Support deal to prevent Iran's nuclear weapons plan, Lords urge
The House of Lords International Relations Committee has written to Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson, 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 Boris Johnson Lord Howell, 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.”
