Iran’s ambassador to the UK Seyed Ali Mousavi has told British MPs that Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are “inspired” by the regime in Tehran and are “liberation movements” seeking to overthrow the “occcupier.”
Appearing in front of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Mousavi was allowed to read out a near 15 minute long statement he which he branded Israel “terrorist and criminal” for conducting its latest airstrikes.
At one stage he claimed that Iran’s nuclear programme was “only peaceful”, insisting: “There is no desire, not any intention, to produce a nuclear bomb.”
But chair Emily Thornberry was forced to intervene, bringing a halt to the ambassador’s words, which clearly riled MPs on the committee.
Pressed by Thornberry on evidence that the regime in Tehran uses the three terror groups as proxies, Mousavi told Tuesday’s hearing:”You mentioned so-called proxies.
“No, they have their own nations, in the Yemeni people, or in the Palestinian people, the Hamas people, all of them are liberation organisations.
“They are trying to achieve self-determination to punish the occupiers.”
Chair Emily Thornberry
He then claimed that “the very important Islamic revolution is the source of inspiration for all of the people in our region.”
Thornberry and others sitting on the committee noted that Mousavi’s claims came less than a week after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censured Iran for failing to comply with nonproliferation obligations intended to stop it developing a nuclear weapon.
Tehran is reported to have enriched uranium up to 60%, requiring only a short technical step to reach the weapons-grade level of 90%.
Labour MP Abtisam Mohamed asked the envoy why, if Iran is peaceful, it is drafting legislation to leave the nuclear proliferation treaty?
He attempted to suggest parliament had a different role in Iran, where it acted with independence from the regime.
In his opening speech, Mousavi had suggested Israel had committed a “war crime” when it carried out airstrikes on the Iranian television headquarters.
He a insisted the strike was an attack on “free speech” and journalism.
But committee member Sir John Whittingdale MP said he had visited Iran International in London, where journalists are “threatened on a daily basis” and where a “journalist was stabbed” with Iranians accused of carrying out the attack.
The MP added he had spoken with BBC Persian journalists in Tehran who were subjected to daily threats.
“Why are they not war crimes?,” asked Whittingdale. ” How do you defend the behaviour of the Iranian government?”
Mousavi claimed this was an “irrelevant question” and then proceeded to continue with his condemnation of Israel.
Later the ambassador was left visibly angry as the Labour MP Dan Carden referenced the Tehran “regime” with Mousavi repeatedly saying “government.”
Carden had pressed him to explain why the regime in Tehran had killed so many of its own citizens.
In another heated exchange with Labour MP Blair McDougall, Mousavi complained about the use of the word “regime” to describe the government in Tehran, insisting it was “a very lawful and legally responsible state”.
Referring to Russia’s use of Iranian-supplied drones to strike civilian targets in Ukraine, McDougall asked: “What’s the legal basis for (Vladimir) Putin’s war in Ukraine, if you’re a fan of international law?”
But Mousavi insisted Iran had “declared to the Russian side not to use our cooperation against a third party”, adding the committee would have to “ask this question to the Russian Federation”.
