Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Iranian counterpart in the last 12 months on the Baháʼís and allegations of the destruction of private property and seizure of private land.

The Baha'i community in Iran is systematically persecuted by the authorities, including through expropriation of land, destruction of homes, and unfair detentions. Persecution of religious minorities is a serious human rights violation and cannot be tolerated in 2022. We have excellent links with the Baha'i community in London and will continue to work with them to advocate for the rights of the Baha'i community in Iran.

We raise Iran's dire human rights record, including its treatment of the Baha'i, at all appropriate opportunities, both in London and directly via His Majesty's Ambassador in Tehran. We continue to work with partners to hold Iran to account through multilateral fora such as the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly Third Committee, where we reiterated our condemnation of Iran's persecution of the Baha'i on Wednesday 26 October.