Iran

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Tuesday 13th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

The right hon. Member will understand that I cannot pre-empt the proper proscription processes that take place, or the use of future legislation in decisions that need to be taken by the Home Office and the Home Secretary, but I hope that I have conveyed to him that this is something I feel very strongly about. We need this legislation in place because of the nature of the complex and hybrid threats we face.

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall and Camberwell Green) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for her statement. It is good for us as a united House to send the strongest condemnation of what we are seeing—the little we are seeing; we know there is a lot more. She mentioned support for British nationals. Many of my constituents have contacted me, including one who said,

“In our household my partner is Iranian… I have seen the fear in her and her family, which I really understand given their experience… she fears for her family back home and—as a family here in Lambeth—it will mean the world if things change for the better…My son could then visit the country of his mother’s birth without fear of abduction.”

They equally want the mass shootings against the protesters to stop. The Foreign Secretary outlined additional sanctions. Will she ensure that those sanctions hit the Iranian authorities responsible for this brutal violence instead of the innocent protesters who are trying to get their points across?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the number of British citizens who have Iranian family who are deeply worried about their safety, and about the Iranian citizens who live lawfully here and have done so for a long time who have also been targeted by the Iranian regime. I can assure her that the UK does not sanction food or medicines, and we make targeted decisions to ensure that the sanctions focus on those responsible for the damage as opposed to ordinary people.