Lord Polak (Con)

My Lords, I refer the House to my interests in the register. Will the Minister say where these sanctions get us? Together with a partial arms embargo, the refunding of UNRWA, which in turn funds Hamas, and ceasing trade talks with our ally, HMG have been consistently on the wrong side since they took office. Even the Minister, who campaigned for proscription of the IRGC when on this side of the House has seemingly changed his mind. He should apologise to the people of Iran and to Vahid Beheshti, who has campaigned so bravely outside his office. Is it therefore any wonder that Britain was not briefed before the attack on the Iranian military and nuclear facilities? It is also no wonder that the PM seems to have had only a brush-past conversation with President Trump tonight. It is clear what the Iranian regime would do if it had nuclear warheads on its ballistic missiles. It took five or six hours on Friday for His Majesty’s Government to utter the words that Israel has a right to defend itself. What was the reason for the delay? Will the Minister tell the House which side HMG are on—the democratic, freedom-loving partner and ally, Israel, which is targeting military and nuclear facilities, or the Islamic regime led by the ayatollah, which supports Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and targets civilians? They are the enemies of the people of Israel, enemies of the people of Iran and, frankly, enemies of all of us in this Chamber.