Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of links between the Iran nuclear negotiations and wider nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East.

The nuclear agreement reached by the E3+3 and Iran on 14 July is a potentially historic achievement. Iran has accepted far reaching limits on its nuclear activities including its stockpiles of enriched uranium, centrifuge numbers, and nuclear research and development. When the (International Atomic Energy Agency) IAEA has verified that these measures have been taken, it will benefit from phased sanctions relief. The aim of the agreement is to ensure that the Iranian nuclear programme will be for solely peaceful purposes. As such, we hope that it can make an important contribution to nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East and to the goal of a Middle East Zone free from Weapons of Mass Destruction.