Iran: Nuclear Weapons

(asked on 21st July 2022) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the implications for her policies of the joint US-Israel declaration on preventing Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.


Answered by
Amanda Milling Portrait
Amanda Milling
This question was answered on 5th September 2022

We note the US and Israel adopted the Jerusalem Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration in July 2022. The UK's long-standing objective is that Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. Iran has been in non-compliance with its nuclear commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) since 2019 and its nuclear programme has never been more advanced than it is today. Iran's escalation of its nuclear activities is threatening regional and international peace and security and undermining the global non-proliferation system.

There has been a viable deal on the table since March which would return Iran to compliance with its JCPoA commitments, and return the US to the deal. The deal would reverse Iran's nuclear escalation, return Iran's nuclear programme to strict JCPoA limits and restore extensive monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency. If Iran fails to conclude the deal its nuclear escalation will cause the collapse of the JCPoA. In this scenario we would carefully consider all options in partnership with our allies.

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