They pointed out that relations with Tehran have been under severe strain in recent months due to its policy of brutal repression against domestic protests against the regime. Meanwhile, Downing Street said “all options are under review” in light of the execution.
James Cleverley, the foreign secretary, announced a series of measures in response to Akbari’s execution, including sanctioning Iran’s attorney general and summoning Iran’s chargé d’affaires to explain Britain’s “disgust”.
The British ambassador to Iran has been temporarily recalled to the UK for urgent talks on possible next steps.
Mr Cleverly said the sanctions showed the UK was serious about holding Iran accountable for its “appalling human rights abuses”.
The foreign secretary will travel to Washington on Monday for talks with Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, where the two will discuss Iran.
“A callous and cowardly act”
Ramin Forghani, Mr Akbari’s nephew, who fled to Luxembourg because of his opposition to the regime, said continuing discussions with Iran would be “unthinkable”.
Britain was already drawing up plans to ban the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, but this is not expected to happen soon.
Alicia Kearns, chair of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, called on the government to declassify and share more intelligence about Iran’s rogue activities and to shut down IRGC-linked organizations in the country.
On Saturday, Tehran faced an international furor over the execution led by Rishi Sunak, who accused the regime of a “callous and cowardly act carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people”.
The US ambassador in London described the execution as “horrific and disgusting”, while Emmanuel Macron, the French president, condemned it as a “heinous and barbaric” act.
Miguel Berger, Germany’s ambassador to the UK, also condemned the “horrific torture and execution” of Akbari, adding that “those responsible for the repression in Iran will be brought to justice”.
Meanwhile, David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, said Iran must be “held accountable” for violating international law and condemned the “brutal, cowardly and authoritarian execution”.
Restoring the Iran nuclear deal
Negotiations to restore the Iran nuclear deal, which was abandoned by Donald Trump, the former US president, in May 2018 resumed in April 2021, but quickly ran into major difficulties.
Iran has been accused of using the talks as a cover while it stepped up work on its nuclear program with a view to completing a nuclear bomb – a charge it denies.
The rounds of negotiations in Vienna were held sporadically due to significant delays on the Iranian side, leading UK officials to privately suspect that Tehran was not acting in good faith.
Even as it emerged in late 2022 that Iran was sending drones and missiles to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, Britain and other signatories remained cautiously optimistic about hopes for a deal. But last month, Joe Biden, the US president, was caught on camera admitting the deal was “dead”.
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