The House of Lords International Relations Committee has written to
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs , calling on the Government to
restate explicitly its support of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA) to prevent Iran’s nuclear weapons programme.
President Macron has reinstated France’s commitment
to the international deal between Iran, the five permanent
members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, UK,
US) and the European Union. There are fears, however, that the
Trump administration in the US may put this success at
risk.
The JCPOA was favoured in the Committee’s
report The Middle East: Time for New Realism, which
recommended:
-
That the UK continues its support of the
deal.
-
That parties to the JCPOA should consider what
should follow the Plan sooner rather than
later.
-
That the terms of the JCPOA could be generalised
into an international standard, making Iran less of a special
case.
In the letter to , Chairman of the Committee,
says:
“The UK, as one of the key negotiators of the
deal, should be unequivocal in its support for a deal that has
clearly been a success in preventing Iran develop nuclear
weapons. Any further unilateral steps by the US to impede the
deal would be contrary to the UK’s security and long-term
interests in the region.
“We urge the Government to be far more forthright and explicit in
its support of the JCPOA, despite US
hesitation.”
Notes to Editors
1. A copy of the letter can be found here.
2. The Committee’s report The Middle East:
Time for New Realism can be found here.
