(Con): My Lords, surely there
was no better display of French-British co-operation than in the
skies of the Middle East on Saturday night. Will the Foreign
Secretary discuss with his French counterpart how we can increase
the pressure on the regime in Tehran so that it might allow the
region to live in peace?
The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Affairs ( of Chipping Norton) (Con): My
noble friend makes a very good point. In our case, the Americans
asked us to backfill their operations, in our joint Operation
Shader, where we have been running a counter-ISIL, counter-Daesh
operation in Iraq and Syria for many years now. We are delighted
to do that, to free up more of their planes to defend Israel
At the same time, we told our pilots that they should shoot down
any projectiles coming Israel's way in the
process. That is exactly what they did, with great skill and
ability. My noble friend is right to say that Britain and France
can work very closely together on this agenda.
We have sanctioned hundreds of people in Iran. We have sanctioned
the IRGC in its entirety. We will be discussing with the French
and others further steps to discourage Iran from this behaviour
and further sanctions that should be put in place. We also need
to look at the work that we do together at the International
Atomic Energy Agency, where we need clear resolutions when Iran
is in breach of the promises that it has made. The point that he
makes more generally is right. When you look at this region, who
is funding Hamas? Who is funding the Houthis? Who is funding
Hezbollah? In every case, the answer is Iran.
(Con): My Lords,
in addition to the obvious need of Ukrainians for combat aircraft
and munitions, in the present situation can we at least make
sure, with our allies, that they obtain the kind of
super-efficient anti-projectile and anti-missile system as seems
to be available to the Israelis? Can we ensure
that the same standards are provided to the Ukrainians? Their
system is good, but clearly it could be better still, and should
we not work on that?
of Chipping Norton (Con): At
the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting last week, there was a very
clear request from the Ukrainian Foreign Minister for two things:
first, the artillery shells to make sure that Ukraine stays in
the fight against Russia in the days ahead but, secondly and
crucially, air defences, particularly Patriot missile systems,
which have been so effective. I know that action is being taken
by us and others on both those subjects to make sure that we do
everything that we can. My noble friend is absolutely right to
point out how effective the Israeli anti-missile
system was, and it shows what can be done if you have the right
resources in place.
