Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action: Iran Debate

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Department: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action: Iran

Wayne David Excerpts
Tuesday 19th October 2021

(2 years, 5 months ago)

Westminster Hall
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Wayne David Portrait Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)
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It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairpersonship, Ms Nokes. I had hoped to speak yesterday about Sir David Amess. He was a man of great knowledge and experience, and he had a great interest in this area. I got to know him very well during the last few days of his life. He was a very decent and honourable man, and we all regret his passing.

I congratulate the right hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Stephen Crabb) on securing a debate on what he says, quite correctly, is an extremely important issue. As has been made clear this afternoon, the multilateral negotiations with Iran have stalled. Progress had been made when President Rouhani of Iran was in power, but a deal had not been concluded before he left office in August this year. Since then, President Raisi has come into office and the talks have stopped. I am sure we would all agree that this is a worrying situation, as my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) said very clearly.

According to the Tehran Times, the Iranian Foreign Minister said to the Iranian Parliament that the United States

“must certainly take serious action”

before any new negotiations take place. According to some commentators, it seems that President Raisi is adopting a hard approach. That is extremely worrying. Because of Iran’s violations of the JCPOA, Iran could, if it was so inclined, produce enough nuclear material for a nuclear bomb literally during the next few months. In the past year, Iran has successfully enriched uranium to a new threshold just short of the grade needed for a nuclear weapon. In addition, there are other weapons-related activities that are currently prohibited by the JCPOA that Iran might develop under the guise of civil nuclear necessity. These reports all make the situation very concerning and raise the question of how the international community should respond. We know that both the United States and Israel have threatened to use force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons—I would suggest that it is in the back of the minds of one or two Members here that that might happen. However, we should be acutely aware of the huge risks involved in military action. We should be cognisant of the fact that as Kelsey Davenport, director for non-proliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, has said this could

“backfire in the long run”,

and a

“larger-scale attack could push Tehran to consider abandoning its Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty commitments”

and developing nuclear weapon production

“in order to deter further attacks”.

An alternative option has been suggested, and I ask Members to think about it. That would be to restore the JCPOA talks on the basis of an interim agreement or a gesture-for-gesture arrangement that reduces the proliferation-sensitive activities of Iran in exchange for certain and very limited sanctions relief for Iran. If that approach was successful, it could take us beyond the current impasse and allow for new negotiations to be mapped out that would take us beyond the confines of the JCPOA, which many Members have accurately pointed out, and give us scope for sanctions relief. That could provide the opportunity to address other concerns about Iran’s activities—namely, as Members have mentioned, the development of a ballistic missile programme designed to deliver nuclear weapons, and Iran’s support for terrorist groups and militias throughout the middle east. Those must be placed near the top of the agenda. In other words, perhaps there needs to be a short-term approach but also a longer-term perspective if we are serious about dealing with the issue of Iran in the long term.

Finally, we are all extremely concerned about the widespread human rights abuses occurring in Iran as we speak. Hostage taking is absolutely deplorable. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) on her determination in championing the case of her constituent, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, but also those of the other dual nationals who are held illegally in Iran. I look forward to the Minister’s response to that specifically, to see whether any progress has been made.

Our country must go beyond its current approach of discreet pressure on Iran regarding human rights abuses. We should be actively considering extending Magnitsky-style sanctions against key Iranian perpetrators of human rights abuses. I would like to hear the Minister’s response to that suggestion specifically.

Iran is an ancient country. It has a rich culture, is capable of developing a strong and diverse economy, and has the potential to be a positive member of the international community. However, that will happen only if we are firm in our goals and determined to work in partnership with the United States and the European Union by insisting that firm objectives must be realised.