BICOM

Alistair Burt, the Minister for the Middle East, addressed Israeli students at Bar Ilan University yesterday and said that the UK was leading an international campaign to stop Iran from reaching nuclear weapon capabilities. Referring to the UK government sanctions imposed on Iranian financial institutions, Burt said, “these new sanctions make it illegal for any financial institution in the UK to have any dealings with any institution in Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran. They are the toughest of their kind. And we will build on them, getting others to follow suit. We are working with the EU on sanctions against Iranian oil.” The minister added that Britain would continue on a dual track approach with Iran, by increasing tough sanctions while being open to dialogue with the Islamic Republic.

Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Burt said that he understood Israeli suspicion to move forward with peace negotiations during an unstable time in the region due to the Arab Spring. However, he added that making a peace deal with the Palestinians is urgent in order to secure “stability, security and peace with the neighbours”. Burt also welcomed the recent meetings that took place last week and on Monday in Amman between Israeli and Palestinian representatives.

Minister Burt ended his address by praising the bilateral relations between Israel and the UK and said that 2011 was a key year in the relations due to the amendment in the universal jurisdiction laws. Burt also announced that two way trade figures for 2011 where expected to grow 25 per cent to around 4.5 million pounds.

In Brussels, meanwhile, the European Union said it plans to move forward by a week, to 23 January, a meeting to discuss further trade sanctions on Iran. Foreign ministers from the bloc, which rivals China as Iran’s biggest customer for crude oil, are expected to confirm an embargo on Iranian oil purchases.

EU governments are still debating how quickly some of their ailing and oil-dependent economies can afford to drop a key supplier and find alternatives. The change is officially to avoid a clash with an EU summit on 30 January, but bringing the ministers’ meeting forward could speed a decision on when to impose the ban, following US President Barack Obama’s New Year’s Eve move to halt payments to Iran for oil.

The Full transcript of Alistair Burt’s speech can be read here.