Iran (Sanctions) Regulations 2023

Debate between Giles Watling and Leo Docherty

Monday 22nd January 2024 General Committees

[Leo Docherty]

The right hon. Gentleman makes a very good point and I can answer in the affirmative; we will take note of that as we review our sanctions approach.

The regulations will allow us to hold Iran to account for a broad range of malign activity, including the planning or conducting of attacks, assassinations, kidnap, sabotage of assets and attacks against shipping, of which we have seen a great deal in recent days and weeks. We have long condemned Iranian support for groups including Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis. We are seeing again at the moment the way that such activity damages not just middle eastern security but global security and prosperity. We are therefore committed to using our sanctions to hold the Iranian regime to account for its malign activity in the UK and elsewhere.

We have so far sanctioned more than 400 Iranian individuals and entities using our other sanctions legislation in response to the regime’s human rights violations, nuclear escalation and terrorism, including, of course, having sanctioned the IRGC in its entirety.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

I feel that we are overlooking a story that has been active for some time, which is that Iran is hiring hitmen across the world to target individuals in foreign states, so it is more than just states that Iran is affecting with the Houthis in Yemen and Hamas in Gaza and elsewhere; we must take care to proscribe the individuals, too.

[Leo Docherty]

My hon. Friend is right. I mentioned the assassinations in my previous peroration. That is something that is in our sights and on which we will continue to focus.

Our sanctions against Iran account for a significant proportion of our sanctions work. The measures introduced by these regulations will be a useful tool in deterring and responding to future hostile activity against the UK and our partners. I hope the Committee will support these important regulations.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Giles Watling and Leo Docherty

Tuesday 2nd May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

12. What recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Leo Docherty)]

The UK values our relationships with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and we work together on shared interests to advance regional stability, security and prosperity. There is no military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We continue to urge the parties to engage in substantive negotiations to secure a sustainable and peaceful settlement.

[Giles Watling]

I recently attended the wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph commemorating the Armenian genocide 108 years ago. I was with His Excellency Varuzhan Nersesyan, the Armenian ambassador. With that in mind, can my hon. Friend tell me why the United Kingdom has not yet formally recognised the genocide, as many other countries have done?

[Leo Docherty]

Of course, it is a very sensitive subject, but the policy of the UK Government is that recognition of genocide is a matter for judicial decision rather than for Governments or non-judicial bodies. When an international legal body makes a judgment that the crime constitutes a genocide, that is a deciding factor in whether we use that term.