The disclosure that the Iranian state was behind a plot to assassinate Donald Trump is not a great surprise given the Tehran regime’s disruptive and murderous behaviour around the world. The plan, thwarted weeks before the US election, was devised by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in revenge for Mr Trump’s fatal 2020 strike on Qassim Soleimani, one of its commanders.
What is surprising, however, is the continued refusal of the British government to proscribe the IRGC, as America and Canada have done. The Conservatives failed to do so and were criticised by Labour in opposition. Yet now they are in power they seem no more inclined to ban the IRGC than their predecessors.
Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, are doubtless receiving the same official advice that stayed the hands of Tory ministers. The argument is that it is better to keep diplomatic channels to Tehran open and that proscription would be merely symbolic. But it is hard to understand why an organisation that sponsors terror groups around the Middle East and has sought to murder critics based in Britain should not be proscribed. It is especially galling given the Government’s perceived anti-Israeli measures such as the restoration of funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency, and the suspension of some arms export licences to Israel.
The Foreign Office is the main blockage to proscription and needs to be reined in. Britain needs to send a clear signal that the actions of a state-backed terrorist organisation in the UK and around the globe are unacceptable. In opposition, Labour was adamant that a more robust line was needed. It is time to show that this was more than just hot air.
Source » msn