Oral Answers to Questions

Jacob Young Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

The UN arms embargo on Iran is due to expire in October 2020, in line with the 2015 nuclear deal, yet Iran has continued to flagrantly breach the deal since the UK triggered the dispute resolution mechanism in January. Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that the absence of meaningful consequences has emboldened Iran to pursue its nuclear ambitions and further destabilise the region? Will he act urgently, with international partners, to extend the UN arms embargo?

[Dominic Raab]

I agree with my hon. Friend in relation to the concerns he has raised about Iran’s conduct. We do want to keep the joint comprehensive plan of action. We would like to do better and we think there is an opportunity to do better in the future, but that is what we have got now. In order to hold Iran’s feet to the fire and to hold them to account, the United Kingdom, with our French and German partners, triggered the dispute resolution mechanism. I was in Berlin last week for E3 consultations about how we will approach this issue and how we will continue to hold Iran to account. My hon. Friend is absolutely right; we will strive with all of our international partners to continue the arms embargo on Iran.