UK Politicians Call For Tougher Stance Against Iran
A group of UK politicians have written to Foreign Secretary James Cleverly calling on the government to adopt more stringent measures against Iran.
A group of UK politicians have written to Foreign Secretary James Cleverly calling on the government to adopt more stringent measures against Iran.
“Iran is the Middle East’s largest, most aggressive power, with an obvious commitment to revising the global order, with a growing alliance with Russia and a desire to deepen it," read the letter by a group of prominent British figures, including two former defense ministers, a former leader of the Liberal Democrat party, and the current chair of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.
The signatories included Menzies Campbell, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Michael Fallon, former defense secretary, Alicia Kearns, chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, General David Richards, former chief of defense staff, George Robertson, former NATO secretary general, and Mark Sedwill, former national security adviser and former cabinet secretary.
The letter highlighted Iran’s increasing audacity in its pursuit of international disruption and condemns its human rights record, nuclear program acceleration, support for proxies in the Middle East, assistance to Russia in the Ukraine conflict, and sponsorship of terrorism and kidnapping, stating that these actions contribute to Iran’s status as a clear threat to international stability and necessitate a robust response from the UK and its allies.
In the letter, they backed the analysis and recommendations of a report from the British conservative think tank Policy Exchange, which argues that treating Iran’s nuclear ambitions in isolation from broader security concerns is a failure of Western policy, urging a comprehensive approach to deal with the regime.
"The most obvious failure of western policy, and particularly British and European policy, has been to compartmentalize the nuclear issue diplomatically and then treat this as the central policy issue in relations with Iran,” read the report.
Stressing the need to view the nuclear program within the context of Iran’s wider aspirations and aggressive behavior, the think tank said, "Nuclear developments, while an important part of the package, must be situated within a more comprehensive understanding of the wider threat posed by Iran. Iran policy, meanwhile, must begin with the strategic threat that Iran poses, not the single, symptomatic element that is its nuclear program.”
The report also claimed that in the 2010s, the Islamic Republic shifted from a defensive strategic posture to an expansionist one, warning that “Iranian expansion across the Middle East will continue unless there is a Western – and indeed a regional Arab – policy change.”
Referring to the regime’s links to proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, as well as relationships with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas, the report argued: “The longer Iranian regional expansion is left unchecked, the more Iran will cement its hegemony over significant parts of the Levant, Iraq and the southern Arabian Peninsula, intensify its efforts to undermine and eventually destroy Israel and expand its presence beyond the Middle East.”
Moreover, the report argues that the UK government should be doing more to counter both overt and covert regime’s operations within Britain, to "prevent assassinations and kidnappings in the UK, including by tasking the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center and National Crime Agency’s intelligence capabilities, along with MI5 and MI6 to hire more Persian analysts and better fuse MI5, MI6, and NCA capabilities".
Rooting for tougher sanctions on Iran and a crackdown on its illicit finances as well as disrupting the regime’s relations with Russia, the report called for the UK government to trigger the snapback process of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, to isolate the regime and gain international support for an anti-Iranian coalition.
“Iran will soon expand its support to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Having already transferred drones to Russia, Iran is likely soon to begin transfers of advanced ballistic missiles to the Kremlin,” the report underlined, forewarning of the sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile exports that will lapse in October under the JCPOA, if the snapback is not applied.
The think tank argued that triggering the snapback mechanism forces the issue of Iran among the signatories of the JCPOA and send a clear message about the international community’s stance on the regime’s nuclear program
Strengthening security and intelligence partnerships with key powers surrounding Iran, including Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, and Israel, was also suggested as a means to enhance the UK’s position in dealing with the Islamic Republic.
According to a report by The Times, UK diplomats are in talks with western allies -- France, Germany and the United States -- about reimposing sanctions on Iran amid warnings that the country is a threat to British interests “at home and abroad”.
This year, British police and the security services said they had foiled 15 plots by Iran to either kidnap or kill British or UK-based individuals it considers “enemies of the regime”.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who appeared on CBC News’ "Face the Nation" on Sunday, refused to offer any transparency regarding the FBI investigation of Robert Malley’s mishandling of classified information and his dismissal as the US special envoy for Iran.
“I can't speak to the current circumstances," he said. Instead, he expressed admiration for Malley, saying, " Rob Malley has served multiple administrations faithfully and well. He is a public servant. He is a diplomat. He is engaged in high level, high stakes diplomacy for a long time. And he's someone who a lot of us, including myself, have deep respect for."
He noted that the US has had “indirect contact” with Iran to try to get a deal that could get the American citizens imprisoned in Iran released, adding that “With respect to the nuclear program, we're not close to any kind of a deal.”
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who issued Thursday an ultimatum to the State Department to come clean about the suspension of Malley, also appeared on the show with a tone very different from that of Sullivan.
“We sent a letter. We were rebuked. We have been given no answer about his status,” he said, emphasizing that “this is a top negotiator to Iran” with access to “highest classified secrets.”
"We are giving a deadline of July 25th to have the diplomatic security and management secretary come in and brief us in a classified space,” he said, warning of a “worst case scenario” in which Malley “transferred intelligence and secrets to our foreign adversaries.” “There's no proof of that, but if he did, that would be treason in my view.”
McCaul wrote twice in the past two weeks to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding information. The Senior Republican lawmaker was rebuffed the first time.
McCaul asserted that now “the Committee expects prompt and full compliance with its requests, and it will not tolerate obstruction of its oversight of this national security matter.”
Capitol Hill Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated with the Biden administration’s unwillingness to share information about the issue. Adding insult to injury, the Iranian regime’s media is trickling details surrounding the case and infuriating US lawmakers, who believe the Islamic Republic knows more about the issue than they.
In its second article published on Sunday, Tehran Times, a publication controlled by the Iranian regime, provided more astonishing details about Malley's situation.
Tehran Times quoted an unnamed source at the US State Department as telling them that “the main problem of Malley stems from his secret talks with Iranian Ambassador to the UN Saeed Iravani and his meetings with some Iranian American figures in the US.”
According to the article, these people include Ali Vaez, Malley’s former right-hand man at the Crisis Group; Vali Nasr, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; and Trita Parsi, the current employer of Malley’s son at the Quincy Institute, and the founder and former president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), which is recognized by Iranians living in the United States as the lobby of the Islamic Republic. “They are Iranian Americans whose presence in Democrats’ Iran diplomacy during the Obama and Biden administrations is quite clear.”
“Thanks to their connection with the former Iranian negotiators, some of whom are still present in the current negotiating team, they play the role of broker and middleman between Tehran and Washington,” Tehran Times said.
Another claim made by the article was that Malley had been in full coordination with the State Department in promoting his negotiation strategies and tactics and his dismissal was not due to a disagreement between the Secretary of State team and the National Security Advisor team, saying that “Perhaps the reason why Secretary of State Tony Blinken did not meet and talk with Malley is because the top diplomat does not want the scope of this scandal to expand and tarnish his reputation.”
On Thursday, a group of 18 Republican senators called for a probe into the murky circumstances surrounding the State Department’s handling of Malley’s security clearance investigation. Spearheaded by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the group sent a letter to Diana Shaw, the acting inspector general of the Department of State, outlining specific questions that must be answered “no later than Friday, July 21, 2023.”
Congress was kept in the dark about Malley having been suspended at least since early May and was only informed about it when his replacement was announced. Malley’s suspension was first reported by Iran International June 29, and formally announced the following day by Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the US State Department, calling it "a leave of absence”. However, it is believed he had been suspended as early as April.
The statement said, "The policy of a unilateral tendency favoring the East and radical opposition to the West as well as denial of the benefits of balanced relations with world powers have irreparably damaged Iran's interests."
This statement was issued following Russia's support for the claim by United Arab Emirates over the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb. The UAE wishes to refer the case to the International Court of Justice. Tehran has dismissed Moscow's stance as "undermining Iran's territorial integrity" and some Friday Prayer Imams in Iran have called for an apology by Russia.
The former diplomats warned that absolute reliance on friendly ties with some countries (Russia and China) will naturally make them believe that they can do anything to Iran.
A day earlier, some websites in Tehran reported on a speech July 12 by former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who had argued along the same lines, saying that a perpetual anti-West policy is harmful to national interests.
They said that such a policy will impose a heavy cost on the country, adding that a balanced foreign policy and a realistic approach to international relations, as well as avoiding policies that negatively affect Iran's national interests can be the driving force of an intelligent foreign policy in the current situation.
The statement said Iran owes its territorial integrity to the endeavors of its citizens, and the government is committed by law to defend the country's territorial integrity. It further noted that this was not the first time Russia undermined Iran's interests.
The former diplomats added that dignified diplomacy requires prevention of such unfriendly stances in any way possible. They pointed out that although Iran attaches priority to its international relations and particularly to its ties with Russia, nonetheless, the country's national interests and territorial integrity come over and above everything else. The statement stressed that there is no room for any compromise on the country's national interests.
The senior diplomats further observed: "We believe that the reason for imposing this unacceptable behavior by others and ignoring the Islamic Republic's status and its national interests is that Iran has stopped abiding by its principle of "neither East, nor West" which was its motto after the 1979 revolution.
The lack of a balanced foreign policy will encourage opportunist states to take advantage of their relations with Iran and using it solely to serve their own interests, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the print media in Tehran highlighted the statement on Sunday. Etemad Online quoted academic Ali Asghar Zargar as warning that "Russians can easily play with Iran's card and gamble on Tehran's interests, adding that Iran must be alert about such eventualities and not be content simply by demanding apologies from China and Russia when they undermine its interests.
On the same day, Khabar Online carried a report in which it asked: "Why Russia and China often surprise Iran? Can we expect anything more than this from unilateral relations?" The website added that the controversy over Russia's behavior less than six months after China had adopted a similar position on the issue of the three islands, was an outcome of Iran's imbalanced foreign relations.