Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure any new agreement with the government of Iran permanently impedes that country's ability to develop and proliferate (1) nuclear, and (2) non-nuclear weapons.

The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs has been clear that Iran must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, and we are committed to working with our international partners to find a solution to Iranian proliferation in the region. The Government believes that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action represents the best - and currently the only - way of constraining Iran's nuclear programme, and we are working hard to find a diplomatic way forward which brings Iran back into compliance with its commitments and restores the non-proliferation benefits of the deal.

We have always been clear that any sustainable solution will need to address a range of issues, including Iran's ballistic missile programme and destabilising activity in the region. The UK continues to enforce the EU arms embargo through domestic legislation; UN ballistic missile restrictions on Iran will also remain in place until 2023. There are also other sanctions regimes which restrict Iranian ability to proliferate weapons in the region, including those established by UN Security Council Resolutions 1540, 1701 and 2216.