Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using Magnitsky sanctions on people in Iran who have arbitrarily detaining British citizens; and what the threshold is for commencing such an assessment.

​Our priority remains finding diplomatic solutions to de-escalate tensions. It would be inappropriate to speculate on designations under the Global Human Rights ('Magnitsky' style) sanctions regime, particularly as we are still developing the secondary legislation which will bring it into force. The IRGC as a whole remains subject to EU and US sanctions; a large number of associated individuals and entities are also designated. The UK will continue to implement the EU sanctions in the Implementation Period.