I refer the Hon Member to my statement to the House on 5 January, where I set out the UK's position in relation to the recent protests in Iran. I will provide further such updates in due course as necessary.

I refer the Hon Member to my statement to the House on 5 January, where I set out the UK's position in relation to the recent protests in Iran. I will provide further such updates in due course as necessary.

I refer the Hon Member to my statement to the House on 5 January, where I set out the UK's position in relation to the recent protests in Iran. I will provide further such updates in due course as necessary.

Further to the answer I gave on 29 October to Question 83265, we are concerned by the reported cases of Hossein Mohammadi and Zahra Gholami, and we continue to monitor the situation for Christians in Iran.

The former Foreign Secretary spoke with his Iranian counterpart on 22 August. They discussed a broad range of issues, including consular matters. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) continues to advise against all travel to Iran where British and British-Iranian dual nationals are at significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention and UK government support is extremely limited. We remain constrained by Iran's refusal to recognise dual nationality, which often means that those with links to the UK are not in a position, although they should be, to receive consular assistance from the UK.

The Foreign Secretary engages with a wide range of interlocutors on Iran, and most recently spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi on 26 June. The Foreign Secretary has not met Reza Pahlavi since taking up his role and does not plan to meet him. We believe it is for the Iranian people to decide the future of Iran.

The Foreign Secretary is in regular contact with his Emirati counterpart. They spoke most recently on 23 June to discuss regional tensions and the importance of de-escalation and diplomacy.

The Foreign Secretary has already spoken to his Israeli, American, and Iranian counterparts and will continue to call for restraint and for all parties to step back. Now is the time for restrain, calm and a return to diplomacy. Our priority is stability in the Middle East. We are clear that a widening of this conflict is in nobody's interests, and that immediate de-escalation is vital for both regional stability and global security.

The Foreign Secretary and his predecessors have engaged the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) participants, and the US. The Foreign Secretary and our officials continue to engage France, Germany, Iran, China and the EU as JCPoA participants, as well as the US, in support of a diplomatic solution.

We believe it is for the Iranian people to decide the future of Iran. We regularly engage the Iranian diaspora and human rights organisations to better understand the lived experiences of Iranians. The Foreign Secretary has raised human rights directly with his Iranian counterpart and we continue to hold Iran accountable at the UN Third Committee and Human Rights Council.

The Foreign Secretary has not visited Iran. The Islamic Republic's human rights record is unacceptable. The UK helped deliver a resolution on the human rights situation in Iran at the UN Third Committee in November 2024. In January, the Foreign Secretary raised human rights directly with his Iranian counterpart. We will continue to raise rights issues directly with the regime, including through our Ambassador in Tehran.

While we do not routinely comment on the detail of specific threats, it is an absolute priority for this Government to protect our democratic and electoral processes from interference by any foreign state, including Iran.

The National Security Act 2023 provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with tools to deter, detect, and disrupt modern-day state threats, including foreign interference. Alongside this, the Defending Democracy Taskforce is working to safeguard our democracy from threats we face.

The Government's top priority is our national security, and we will use all the tools at our disposal to protect the UK, and its people, from state threats.

We continue to condemn Iran’s supply of weapons to Russia; these weapons have been used in Ukraine to target critical national infrastructure and kill civilians. In return for the funds and operational feedback it is receiving in this deal, Iran will be able to expand its defence-industrial base and further proliferate weapons throughout the Middle East. The Ministry of Defence is working with a range of partners to identify and expose this relationship and hold both Iran and Russia to account. Meanwhile, we continue to assess the implications of this relationship on regional and global security and that of the safety of our Armed Forces.

In 2022 and 2023 the Royal Navy interdicted Iranian missiles and components which were being smuggled from Iran to the Houthis in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions. These weapons were similar to the weapons the Houthis have recently used to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea. Iran has been supplying the Houthis with intelligence and continues to supply them with weapons; on 17 January the Foreign Secretary made clear to the Iranian Foreign Minister that this must stop. A new Iran sanctions regime was launched in December which includes trade restrictions on UAVs and components.

The UK is an active member of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, which is currently chaired by the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Fiona Bruce MP. In July 2022, we hosted the last International Ministerial Conference on FoRB in London, during which the situation of religious minorities in Iran was discussed as a priority. Iran has a record of discrimination, harassment and targeting of minority religious and ethnic communities. We raise these issues at all appropriate opportunities with Iran and in international fora, and we continue to work with the international community to press Iran to improve its dire human rights record.

The UK is clear that Hamas is fully responsible for these appalling acts of terror in Israel. We are also clear that Iran poses an unacceptable threat to Israel. We have long condemned Iran's destabilising activity throughout the region, including its political, financial and military support to several militant and proscribed groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Such activity compromises the region's security, its ability to prosper and escalates already high tensions. We work closely with our partners to hold Iran to account, and we currently have over 350 sanctions in place against the Iranian regime. We expect to see total international condemnation of the atrocities committed by Hamas. The UK Government will continue to stand with Israel as it faces pressing challenges to its security.

According to our consular case management system, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has provided consular assistance in 24 new cases relating to Iran in the last 12 months.

There are presently no plans for the Foreign Secretary to visit Iran in the next 12 months.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum claims by nationality in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications by Iranian nationals are published in table Asy_D01 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’.

Data on how many asylum seekers have been granted refugee status are published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’.

Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the end of December 2022. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

The sentencing to death of protestors in Iran is abhorrent. I condemned this tragic development in the House on 16 November. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and will challenge the Iranian regime's violent response to protests. On 14 November, the UK sanctioned 24 individuals for violations of human rights in the repression of protests. This is on top of sanctions on 10 October against Iran's so called "morality police" and seven security officials. On 24 November, the UK supported a successful Human Rights Council resolution to establish a UN investigation into the regime's appalling human rights violations during the protests.