I stand with those Iranians who have been risking everything for freedom. I back their calls for freedom and I join in demands for the Ayatollah’s repressive rule to end. The brutality of Tehran’s regime, enforced by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is an affront to humanity.
The brave and courageous men, women, and children who were protesting in Iran stand in defiance of a cruel, barbaric, and despotic regime that has suppressed their lives and freedom for over five decades. People, in their thousands, have been arrested, attacked, and murdered in the street by their own government for calling for freedom under cover of a communications black out. I am utterly sickened by the Iranian regime’s callous indifference to human life.
The Ayatollah’s malign regime flooded its soldiers into cities to brutally suppress protests, and hospitals are reportedly overwhelmed with the injured and murdered. Civilians have been shot, killed, and buried by the side of roads; those arrested are being sentenced to execution. It is now estimated that 30,000 citizens including children, the elderly and young people have been murdered, with many more injured and tortured. The level of the IRGC’s barbarity is incomprehensible.
Like so many of my constituents, I mourn the victims of Tehran’s atrocities, but we cannot let their dreams be buried. These were ordinary Iranians doing extraordinary things to fight for their freedom.
More widely, the theocratic terrorist regime in Iran has, for far too long, threatened regional security. Iran has backed the Islamist terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. The Ayatollah has supported Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, providing Russia with drones used to target Ukrainian civilians. Iran supports China’s campaign of repression. The Maduro regime was able to rely on Iranian gasoline in exchange for gold, permissions to build military drone factories, and a free hand to train Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers and Hezbollah terrorists in Venezuela.
Iran is currently holding British nationals Craig and Lindsay Foreman in cruel captivity, sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on trumped up charges while Iranian agents have attempted to assassinate people on British soil, with, at least 20 threats emanating from Iran to the lives of UK-based individuals since January 2022. The UK currently maintains sanctions on more than 400 Iranian individuals, entities and aligned groups for roles in weapons proliferation, regional conflicts, human rights violations, and terrorism. It is a prolific state sponsor of terrorism with a publicly stated intention of annihilating the world's only Jewish state and its people. My colleagues and I are clear Iran must never be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, however, the Islamist regime has ignored repeated demands to stop their nuclear weapons programme.
Sanctions have also been imposed on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in its entirety, as well as on more than 50 Iranian IRGC officials since October 2022. The IRGC are an integral part of the murderous and barbaric Iranian terrorist regime responsible for fifty years of internal repression and brutality against their own people and I am appalled by the Labour Government’s silence on the IRGC. My Party has offered to work with the Labour Government to introduce emergency legislation in Parliament to bring forward the legal and legislative mechanisms for the UK to take action against the IRGC and I am deeply disappointed the Labour Government has not shown the resolve needed to stand up to Iran; to back those protesting and to work to bring about the end of the regime’s cruelty.
My colleague Dame Priti Patel MP - the Shadow Foreign Secretary - has asked Ministers what they are doing to challenge the Iranian regime and why it took the Foreign Office so long to finally summon the Iranian Ambassador to the UK. I am very concerned the government minister failed to directly answer these questions. The UK Government must now act to support those campaigning in Iran for a free and democratic future. If change comes, UK Ministers must be ready to support this change. Ministers must also act to deter a weakened Iranian regime retaliating and escalating plots to undermine Britain’s national security.
Ministers could start fighting for our national interests by scrapping their plan to surrender the Chagos Archipelago - a vital security asset - to Mauritius at a cost of £35 billion to British taxpayers. They could use the time freed up in Parliament to find ways to protect our national security from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian regime, using that £35 billion to bolster our defences. At this critical moment, Britain must do all it can to stand with Iranians fighting for our freedom, and to protect them and us from Tehran’s threat.
There can be no doubting that Iran is a hostile state. The regime is a threat to our country, to the Middle East region, and to the world. Britain must find the resolve to deal with it. I will continue to urge the UK Government to use every tool at its disposal to protect the UK and its overseas interests against any threats from the Iranian state.
You can rest assured my colleagues and I will continue to push for answers on these vitally important questions. As I get any more information, I will of course update my constituents.
