Asked by: Chris Clarkson (Conservative - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the accuracy of reports that Iran has produced 25kg of uranium enriched to 60 per cent purity.
Answered by James Cleverly
Iran has been in non-compliance with its Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) commitments since 2019. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verified that since April 2021, Iran has produced highly enriched uranium (HEU) at 60%. It is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons to enrich at 60%.
Asked by: Chris Clarkson (Conservative - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of confirmation from the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is 14 times the limit set under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear agreement.
Answered by James Cleverly
Iran's continued systematic non-compliance with its nuclear commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), including its increasing stockpile of enriched uranium, is undermining the non-proliferation benefits of the deal and jeopardising our efforts to preserve it. On 18 February in Paris, the Foreign Secretary joined his French and German counterparts and the US Secretary of State Tony Blinken to discuss concerted action to bring Iran back to full compliance. Our priority is to find a diplomatic way forward with the parties of the JCPoA and the US Administration that realises the benefits of the deal.
Asked by: Chris Clarkson (Conservative - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What diplomatic steps he has taken to support a peace settlement in Cyprus.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary has been actively engaged in the run-up to UN talks at the end of April in support of a just and lasting settlement of the Cyprus issue. He visited Cyprus on 4 February and met with the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Communities and encouraged them to show flexibility at the talks and to engage without preconditions. The UK fully supports the UN’s approach to negotiations.
The Foreign Secretary also delivered similar messages to Greek Foreign Minister Dendias and Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu on 2 and 3 February. He has engaged the UN Secretary General on how we make the most of the current opportunity and discussed this further with the UN Special Representative for Cyprus on 4 February.
Asked by: Chris Clarkson (Conservative - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recent charges brought by Hamas against Gaza peace activists who took part in a video call with Israelis.
Answered by James Cleverly
We strongly condemn the detention of peace activists by Hamas. The UK retains a policy of no contact with Hamas in its entirety. We monitor the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories closely, including reporting on human rights violations in our annual Human Rights and Democracy Report.