Iran

Lord Davies of Stamford Excerpts

Wednesday 10th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Anderson of Swansea]

My Lords—

[Lord Davies of Stamford]

My Lords—

[Lord Hylton]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Warsi]

I think that we are proposing official-to-official contact, possibly even in a third country, beforehand. That would be the normal course of events, not just in the case of Iran.

[Lord Davies of Stamford]

My Lords, all of us hope that Rouhani will prove to be more reasonable and rational than Ahmadinejad. Is it not important that nobody should have any illusions; that we should make it absolutely clear that sanctions cannot be relaxed until there is real evidence, through inspections or otherwise, that Iran is not proceeding with a nuclear weapons programme; and that, in view of the lamentable record on human rights and other matters that the noble Baroness has just set out, we should reserve even symbolic concessions on our side until the Iranian regime makes some positive move forward?

[Baroness Warsi]

Sanctions are there for a purpose. They are targeted. They are for a specific issue and we have been careful to note that humanitarian goods are protected. However, the noble Lord is right. We have to make progress on substantive issues, and nuclear is one of them.