Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

US Policy on Iran

Tuesday 13 May 2025 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • UK specified Iran under the foreign influence registration scheme on 4 March.
  • Iran is producing roughly one significant quantity of highly enriched uranium every six weeks.
  • The current production rate of enriched uranium in Iran is 40 times above the limit set in the joint comprehensive plan of action.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 John Cooper Con Dumfries and Galloway
Foreign Affairs
Context

The MP references the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' activities as a terrorist entity.

Question

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is the terrorism export wing of the despotic regime in Tehran. Why are we not joining the Americans in proscribing this organisation when we did proscribe the Wagner organisation in Russia? Is it possibly because the Americans are pressuring us to continue our tenuous diplomatic links with Tehran?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr David Lammy)

I remind the hon. Gentleman that on 4 March the UK specified Iran under the foreign influence registration scheme, which targets those who undertake malign activity in the UK. Of course we keep proscription under review. We are looking closely at the area of state threats; that is traditionally very different from the sorts of cells and terrorist communities that we do proscribe. That is why the Government continue to look at this area very carefully.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific request about proscribing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was not directly addressed with a commitment to do so or an explanation of why it has not been done.

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Q2 David Reed Con Exmouth and Exeter East
Foreign Affairs
Context

The MP asks about the outcome the UK would consider a success in current US-Iran nuclear negotiations.

Question

Our United Kingdom and the United States are aligned in the view that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a serious threat to global stability. With nuclear negotiations currently under way between the US and Iran, can the Secretary of State inform the House what outcome his Department would consider to be a success from a British perspective? Crucially, does he have a contingency plan if those talks fail to produce an acceptable result?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr David Lammy)

Iran is now producing roughly one significant quantity of highly enriched uranium every six weeks. That is 40 times above the limit in the joint comprehensive plan of action—the deal that we struck with Iran, which I have in front of me.[Official Report, 15 May 2025; Vol. 767, c. 7WC.] (Correction) I am really crystal clear about this. Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon; it must reverse its escalations—we have seen that in its enrichment programme; it must not carry out any critical weaponisation work; and these terms have to be fully verifiable. Unless we get that, we will see a snapback of the sanctions regime that we struck with it 10 years ago.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific request about defining success in negotiations was not directly addressed, and there is no clear statement on having a contingency plan if talks fail.

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