Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, to what extent ongoing UK diplomatic sanctions on Iran are intended to target the judicial system in that country on account of its harassment and persecution of (a) Christians and (b) other religious minorities.

We are concerned about the treatment of Christians and other religious minorities in Iran. As part of the EU, we have sanctioned over 80 Iranian individuals and entities responsible for human rights violations, and the UK has played a key role in identifying and maintaining the designations. Several of these sanctions target members of the Iranian judicial and penal system.