Iran: Nuclear Deal

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and David Jones

Wednesday 15th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Jones (Clwyd West) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend rightly highlighted the activities of the Iranian revolutionary guard corps as an example of Iran’s current meddling beyond its borders. Given the large amount of resources that will be released to Iran as a consequence of the agreement, will my right hon. Friend tell us what assurances he and his fellow negotiators have received from the Iranians that those resources will not be directed towards further funding for the IRGC’s export of the Iranian revolution?

[Mr Hammond]

As I think I have made clear before, we have no specific commitments. Iran will have access, over time, to about £90 billion-worth of frozen assets. That will not happen overnight; it will happen over a period of many years. No doubt, the IRGC will have ideas about recommending how some of the money could be spent, but so will people in many other parts of the Iranian system. Iran has a huge infrastructure deficit. If it is to increase its oil-exporting capacity, which it will want to do, it will need to invest very heavily in the oil industry, and we would expect a fair amount of the unfrozen funds to go into that sector.

Iran (Nuclear Talks)

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and David Jones

Tuesday 25th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

Yes, there will be no question of removing the sanctions until we have seen compliance by Iran with the terms of an agreement. I am clear that that agreement will include a restriction of Iran’s capabilities in terms of enrichment to a level appropriate to the legitimate purposes that it has.

[Mr David Jones (Clwyd West) (Con)]

Last week the Foreign Secretary expressed the view, which he has just repeated at the Dispatch Box, that no deal is better than a bad deal. Can he confirm that that view is shared by the other P5 plus 1 negotiators, and further that it will inform their negotiating position over the months ahead?

[Mr Hammond]

That is the stated view of all the P5 participants—that no deal is better than a bad deal—and I hope that it will inform their negotiating stance over the months ahead.

ISIL: Iraq and Syria

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and David Jones

Thursday 16th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his expression of support for DFID and the international community that is trying to deliver aid. He is absolutely right, of course: in the areas controlled by ISIL, informal support to local NGOs is one strand of the work that DFID and the international aid community are doing. The aid community is acutely aware that it needs to work with the grain of the local situation, and where it provides support in ISIL-controlled areas, it has to work with who it can. That will not always be ideal, but it will get as much aid to those areas as possible.

[Mr David Jones (Clwyd West) (Con)]

I wonder whether I could press the Foreign Secretary further on the role of Turkey. It is a concern that foreign fighters are still crossing the border from Turkey into Syria to join ISIS. It is also a concern that the Turkish authorities are still equivocal about the use of the Incirlik air base by coalition forces. Will my right hon. Friend say what representations he has made to the Turkish Government on those two matters?

[Mr Hammond]

As I mentioned earlier, the national security adviser is in Turkey today and will be talking to the Turkish authorities. For operational security reasons, I do not propose—and, I do not propose as a Government—to give a running commentary on which bases in which countries are being used for which operations. What I can say to my right hon. Friend is that control along the Turkish-Syrian and Turkish-Iraqi border has significantly improved over the last few weeks. We have close contact with the Turks on the movement of British-originating potential fighters across that border, and although there is still more that can be done, we are generally very pleased with the advances that have been made over the last few weeks.