Iran’s Influence in the Middle East

Joan Ryan Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd March 2017 Westminster Hall

[Joan Ryan (Enfield North) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Nuttall; I am pleased to be called to speak. I congratulate the hon. Member for Hendon (Dr Offord) on securing such an important debate.

Whatever the merits of the nuclear deal concluded two years ago this summer, it has done nothing to satisfy Iran’s appetite to establish regional hegemony in the middle east. That is unsurprising. One of the great flaws of European and US efforts has been a willingness to overlook Iran’s destabilising influence, its support for terrorism and its appalling human rights record. Little demonstrates Iran’s pernicious influence more clearly than its role in the Syrian civil war.

Through unstinting support for the Assad regime and Hezbollah, Iran bears much responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian life that has unfolded since 2011, the likes of which we have not seen in more than 70 years. Iran’s actions in Syria—what Dennis Ross has rightly described as its

“preference for sectarian policies…and politics”—

fuelled the rise of IS. Whatever the eventual fate of Daesh, Iran’s behaviour will continue to stoke violent Sunni movements and jihadism throughout the region.

Iran’s apparent belief that international norms do not apply to it extends far beyond its nuclear ambitions and its actions in Syria. Iran continues to defy Security Council resolutions on conventional arms restrictions and ballistic missiles, testing missiles on a number of occasions since the implementation of the nuclear deal, most recently earlier this month. It has increased its support for the Taliban and it backed the Houthi effort to overthrow Yemen’s internationally recognised Government, helping to provoke another vicious civil war in the region. Through its proxies in Hezbollah, Iran seeks to destabilise Lebanon politically to fulfil its long-held aspiration to turn the country into a client state.

Iran’s game plan is clear. First, it is working to further its dominance by establishing a land corridor to the Mediterranean, one that cuts a swathe through Iraq, along the Syria-Turkey border, south to Homs and north again to the port of Latakia. Secondly, through Hezbollah, Iran aims to establish a second front in southern Syria with which to threaten Israel. In recent days Israel has been forced to take action against a number of targets near the Lebanon-Syria border.

Iran’s intentions towards Israel are utterly malign and unchanging. A decade ago Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described it as a “disgraceful blot” that should be

“wiped off the face of the earth”.

His supposedly reformist successor, Hassan Rouhani, called it

“a wound on the body of the Islamic world”

that “should be removed.” The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed that Israel would not live to see the end of “these 25 years”. Such repeated threats to annihilate a fellow member of the United Nations again show Iran’s refusal to live by the rules that govern international relations.

Those are not merely idle threats. Only last week, one of the deputy heads of the Iranian revolutionary guard boasted that it had established underground rocket factories in Lebanon that are under the full control of Hezbollah. Days before, Iran’s Defence Minister said that Hezbollah is now capable of producing rockets that can hit any part of Israel. Hezbollah is already estimated to have between 100,000 and 120,000 rockets hidden among the civilian population of southern Lebanon.

Iran’s belligerence and expansionism is not simply a threat to our friends in the region, but a direct threat to Europe. Europe should therefore stand up for itself and stand by Israel. It should ensure that the international repudiation of Iran’s repeated threats against Israel is unequivocal.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab/Co-op)]

I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Hendon (Dr Offord) on securing this important debate.

Iran has an appalling human rights record at home and is a dangerous promoter of international terrorism abroad. At home, dissent is not tolerated. Baha’is, Christians, Sunni Muslims and Sufis all face attack. Some 90 Baha’is, including seven national Baha’i leaders, are currently in prison for allegedly disturbing national security and committing so-called espionage. To mark International Women’s Day, a very effective event was held in this House to discuss Iran’s oppression of women.

Iran is intent on extending its influence across the region and beyond, to places such as Syria and Yemen, where it exacerbates conflict. Its funding of the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, together with its base in Syria, makes achieving peace in the region even more problematic. Indeed, Iran does not want peace; it wants to foment conflict indefinitely.

Under the mullahs, Iran has a long record of linked anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Last year, the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei posed a holocaust denying video on his official website, and at a military parade last September, a banner proclaimed: “Step by step we are nearing the destruction of Israel and the salvation of al-Quds.” This very week, we heard from Iran a condemnation of so-called Zionist

“plots to destroy human community.”

There is overwhelming evidence that Iran is an oppressive regime, both at home and abroad.

[Joan Ryan]

We talk a lot about Iran, but does my hon. Friend believe that action should be taken against Iranian actors—I am thinking of Mahan Air—that aid and abet the Islamic Republic’s support for murder and terrorism? That airline is accused of ferrying fighters and weapons to Assad, and it flies in and out of Copenhagen, Paris and Milan.

[Mrs Ellman]

I agree. Indeed, the challenge of dealing with Iran is that, as well as taking direct action itself, it works through other organisations and groups. It is a wholly negative and destructive force. I hope that the Minister can tell us what action he is taking, as part of international forums and as a Minister of this country, to challenge Iran’s activities and ensure that it continues to be seen internationally not as a friend but as a pariah.