Lord Cryer
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Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Lord Cryer Excerpts(1 day, 13 hours ago)
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Lord Cryer
To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they will reconsider their decision not to proscribe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Hanson of Flint) (Lab)
It is the Government’s long-standing position not to comment on the detail of security or intelligence matters, including whether a specific organisation is being considered for proscription. The Government’s approach to threats to the UK is kept under constant review. However, the Government utterly condemn the appalling violence recently seen from the Iranian regime.
Lord Cryer (Lab)
My Lords, I appreciate what my noble friend says. However, the IRGC remains what it has always been: a bunch of murderous fascists and fanatics. We are seeing that fact play out tragically on the streets of Iran at the moment. In the context of the Question on the Order Paper, I am concerned about the activities of the IRGC on the streets of Britain. It pursues alleged enemies of the Iranian state, very often using criminal proxies for its poisonous ends. On that basis, could we perhaps see an undertaking by the Home Office that there will be an assessment on what would be the effects of full proscription of the IRGC?
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
As I said to my noble friend, we keep proscription under constant review, and that will always be the case. I am sure he is aware that the IRGC is sanctioned by the UK Government. That sanction means that we have travel bans, so no known member of the IRGC can travel to the United Kingdom. Where it has resources in the United Kingdom, those resources are frozen under international obligations. So there are significant actions against that appalling regime, and we are acutely aware of the difficulties and challenges that it is facing. We condemn the actions it is taking on the ground in Iran at the moment and we will keep the issue of proscription under review, as I have mentioned.