Counter-Daesh Update

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Thursday 4th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and it is important that we have a team effort in the struggle against Daesh, partly because of the severity of the threat that it poses and partly because of the amorphous nature in which it can appear. It is therefore important to have cohesive international collaboration and this is a very good example of that.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab) [V]]

Notwithstanding the threat from Daesh, Iran’s support for terrorist activity across the region and in Europe, as we have learned from the Assadi trial, also poses a real threat. Will the Foreign Secretary give an assurance that Iran’s aggression and support for terrorism will be included in any discussions on a revamped Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action?

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right; that is a key aspect of addressing and dealing with Iran. I was in Paris recently not just with my French and German opposite numbers—we also had a virtual meeting with the US Secretary of State, Tony Blinken. Clearly, we are all agreed—so there is an element of transatlantic solidarity and cohesion, which has been reinforced—not just on the importance of nuclear compliance and getting Iran back to systemic compliance rather than non-compliance, but on dealing with its wider destabilising activities, including those that the hon. Gentleman mentioned.