Lord Polak vows to continue to ‘speak out’ on Iran after being sanctioned by Tehran

Conservative peer Lord Stuart Polak has vowed to continue to “speak out” against the Iranian regime, telling Lords it was “indeed an honour” to be placed on Tehran’s latest sanctions list.

The Conservative Friends of Israel’s honorary president was amongst nine individuals in the UK to be told they had been blacklisted by Iran last week.

Speaking in a debate on the on-going protests taking place in the hard-line Islamic Republic, Lord Polak said: “What an honour: banned from a country that attacks its own people, beating women and children because they dare to protest against backwards and oppressive laws.

“This is a country where peaceful protesters are dragged and beaten to death; a country that shuts down its own internet so the rest of the world cannot bear witness to the murderous brutality of the IRGC, while providing weapons and training to support Putin’s criminal acts in Ukraine.

“To be banned from such a country for standing up against its leadership, terrorist actions and treatment of its own people is indeed an honour.

“I will continue to speak out against the Iranian regime and specifically its terrorist arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for their inhumane activity on the ground in Iran and their acts of terror internationally.”

Speaking after Polak, Lord Turnberg urged the government to act and proscribe “the horrific Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

He added:”Now is the time for our new Conservative leadership to show some resolve. ”

Thursday’s debate had been brought to the Lords by the Bishop of St Albans to raise the “plight of many people in Iran, especially young women, who are fighting for their basic human rights and, as a consequence, suffering horrific violence at the hands of the state.”