MP for Chester South and Eddisbury, Aphra Brandreth, spoke out during a Foreign Affairs Select Committee session with the Foreign Secretary.
In light of the recent US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Aphra asked the Foreign Secretary a simple question: if the UK supported the US, our closest and most important ally, in its actions?
Iran is enriching uranium to 60%, a level far beyond any civilian use. For context, enrichment at UK sites like Urenco in Cheshire would not go much beyond 5%. Iran’s level of enrichment has one likely purpose: a nuclear weapon.
Given the urgency of the situation, if military action isn’t the answer, the Foreign Secretary must explain what credible alternative could immediately halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
During the Committee, Aphra explained,
"Foreign Secretary, I want to ask you a bit about the recent strikes between Israel and Iran, and of course the US involvement. I think it is probably fair to say that you have acknowledged the importance of Iran’s nuclear programme being diminished, but have perhaps been a little bit less committal about whether you supported the US’s airstrikes as the means to achieve that aim. I just wanted to ask whether, if you did not support those strikes, there was, as you see it, a credible, viable alternative course of action that could have put an immediate stop to the nuclear programme."