Iran’s arbitrary detention of foreign nationals is ‘state hostage taking’: UK parliament committee

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A British parliamentary committee said in a new report that the country needs to formally define Tehran’s arbitrary detention of foreign nationals as “state hostage taking,” saying London needs to reassess their wider strategy with Iran.

“The UK Government must call the arbitrary detention of foreign nationals what it is: hostage taking,” read comments from Tom Tugendhat, the member of parliament chairing the foreign affairs committee created to assess the UK’s relationship with Iran, in a report released on Wednesday.

The Iranian regime has been notorious for using Western captives for political leverage since its foundation, the beginning of its rule marked by the US Embassy hostage crisis of 1979-1981. Detentions of foreign nationals have continued, despite hopes that a lauded 2015 nuclear deal would bring about a detente.

According to international law scholar Eileen Denza, at least 30 dual nationals have been detained since 2015 without access to diplomatic or consular protection.

"Using young mothers and retirees as bargaining chips and leverage is an unacceptable form of diplomacy,” Tugendhat added, likely referring to Iranian-British dual citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been in detention since 2016 on accusations that she was conspiring to “topple the regime.”

The British foreign office has been criticized by the public and family members of British detainees in Iran for not taking more decisive actions to secure the release of Britons.

Iran nuclear deal

The foreign affairs committee also recommended the UK work toward the replacement of the 2015 landmark Iran nuclear deal.

“Despite good intentions, the JCPOA was an agreement built on weak foundations. The slow death of the nuclear deal seems to have been inevitable and, following the actions in the Majlis, it now appears beyond repair,” reads comments from the chair, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In May 2018, citing Iran’s ballistic missiles program and interventionist military policies, the US President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal, starting a chain reaction of increased hostility between the two sides.

The US President also re-imposed crippling sanctions against Iran, targeting its oil exports in particular.

In the original deal, Iran agreed to restrictions preventing the attainment of nuclear weapons acquiring nuclear weapons in exchange for the end of crippling economic sanctions.

Iran, as retaliation, has scaled back on its commitments a number of times, including by no longer complying with restrictions on nuclear enrichment.

Terrorism designation for IRGC

The committee also urged for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation under Terrorism Act 2000 due to its “clear and enduring support for terrorists and non-state actors working to undermine stability in the region”.

Members of the IRGC have had sanctions placed on them by the European Union (EU), and the US has added the body in its entirety to its foreign terrorist organization list.

“Proscribing the IRGC in its entirety is a natural next step in response to the IRGC’s bankrolling and bolstering of terrorism. The group’s destructive philosophy and violence within Iran and across the region make a compelling case for it to be singled out for sanction,” said Tugendhat.

More generally the report encourages diplomatic relations to be based on the respect of certain principles.

"Engagement should seek to encourage Iran to play a positive, constructive and predictable role as a regional power, which uses international norms, respect for human rights and the rule of law as the basis for its actions,” reads the report.

“At its heart, a strategy must send a clear message: that Iran’s destabilising activities are unacceptable because they adversely impact the region and its peoples, but that when the time comes, the door is open to diplomacy."

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