Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of expelling Iranian diplomats in the UK in response to the Iranian Government's reaction to ongoing protests in Iran.

The UK maintains close to 300 sanctions designations against Iran in relation to human rights, UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), nuclear proliferation and terrorism. A full list is available online on the UK Sanctions List. Recently, on 10 October, the UK announced sanctions on seven senior security and political figures responsible for human rights violations in Iran, as well as the so-called Morality Police. For decades, they used the threat of detention and violence to control what Iranian women wear and how they behave in public. It is longstanding practice not to speculate on future sanctions designations, as to do so could reduce their impact, nor would we comment on potential expulsions. The UK's position is clear: through our words and actions, we will hold Iran to account.