PRESS RELEASE : Foreign Secretary to call out Iran and Russia as threats to Middle East security [November 2022]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 18 November 2022.

• The Foreign Secretary will today [Saturday 19 November] call out Iran and Russia as threats to the security of the Middle East in a speech to global leaders in Bahrain.
• He will commit to working with partners to ensure Iran can never develop a nuclear weapon and to tackle its destabilising activity in the region.
• The Foreign Secretary will also call out Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as a ‘flagrant breach’ of the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity which is ‘heaping misery’ on millions of Syrians and Yemenis by driving up food prices.

The Foreign Secretary will call out Iran and Russia as threats to the security of the Middle East in a speech at an international security conference today.

Speaking at the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain, he will commit to working with partners in the region to ensure Iran never develops a nuclear weapon and highlight the impact of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine on food security across the region.

He will also highlight opportunities for cooperation on Gulf states’ transition to green energy and look forward to greater trade between the Gulf and the UK following the conclusion of talks on a new Free Trade Agreement with the Gulf Co-operation Council, expected next year.

On the threat posed by Iran, the Foreign Secretary is expected to say:

Iranian-supplied weapons threaten the entire region. Today Iran’s nuclear programme is more advanced than ever before, and the regime has resorted to selling Russia the armed drones that are killing civilians in Ukraine.

As their people demonstrate against decades of oppression, Iran’s rulers are spreading bloodshed and destruction as far away as Kyiv.

Britain is determined to work alongside our friends to counter the Iranian threat, interdict the smuggling of conventional arms, and prevent the regime from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.

On Putin’s war in Ukraine, the Foreign Secretary is expected to say:

Putin’s onslaught against Ukraine amounts to a flagrant breach of those principles [sovereignty and territorial integrity]. No country is immune from the turmoil he has brought to world energy markets or the damage he has caused to global food security.

Putin’s war is inflicting yet more suffering on Syrians and Yemenis, who were already enduring the privations of humanitarian emergency, and ordinary Lebanese, caught up in economic crisis.

The Foreign Secretary will hold bilateral meetings with a range of international counterparts at the Dialogue and take part in panel events on key issues facing the Middle East, including maritime security and conflict resolution.

Following the Manama Dialogue, the Foreign Secretary will be travelling to Qatar. He is planning to meet with UK police representatives who are in-country supporting British fans to enjoy a safe and enjoyable trip, to understand more about their plans for the tournament.

While there, he will also speak at an event on global food security, hold bilateral meetings with key partners and visit UK Armed Forces stationed in Qatar, alongside attending the opening ceremony of the World Cup and the first England game.