Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 66
Fifth report: No prosperity without justice: the UK’s relationship with Iran
Published 16 Dec 2020
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee The UK and Iran All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The UK has been most successful at securing its objectives vis-à-vis Iran when it has committed to a long-term strategy alongside international partners. However, the UK’s relationship with Iran is bigger than Iran’s nuclear violations, malign regional activity, or human rights abuses. It is also a relationship between cultures and peoples and the story of their shared interests. Consequently, the FCDO should be prepared to accept that the UK’s existing relationships with the E3 and US, while important, cannot offer the fullest structure for diplomacy. The FCDO needs a renewed focus on understanding the motivations behind the actions of the Iranian State, and a clear effort needs to be made to differentiate between the Iranian State and the Iranian people.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Fifth report: No prosperity without justice: the UK’s relationship with Iran (HC 415), 16 December 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 February 2021 (deadline 16 February 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes several of the Committee's conclusions and sets out a position built on "engagement, pressure, and incentives", while noting rather than adopting a number of specific recommendations.
- On the nuclear deal, it agrees it would not be in the UK's interests to terminate the JCPoA "without a viable replacement", and says it will work with E3 partners and the new US Administration. It notes the recommendations on ballistic missiles, sunset clauses and IAEA cooperation.
- It states that it "has never said that its long-term goal is to 'replace' the JCPoA", while agreeing that consultation across the Middle East region will be critical.
- On proscribing the IRGC, it takes "careful note" of the recommendation. It says the IRGC is subject to UK sanctions, and that it is "longstanding Government policy not to comment" on whether an organisation is under consideration for proscription.
- On a Foreign Secretary statement on a JCPoA replacement, it says only that the Foreign Secretary "will update the House when it is appropriate to do so". It notes the proposal for a UN hostage-taking convention addition without committing to it.