§ Mr. O'Neillasked the Secretary of State for Defence on what date arms sales to Iran were restarted; if he will list (i) items supplied to Iran since 1979, (ii) the suppliers and (iii) the value of those items; whether they would be used in that country's war with Iraq; and if the United States Government was consulted at any stage.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonNo general embargo has been imposed upon the supply of defence or defence-related equipment to Iran. Deliveries were suspended at the time of the Iranian revolution and during the United States hostage crisis. Since then restrictions on defence exports have been applied. Currently these are as set out in the answer given on 29 October 1985 by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in reply to a question by the right hon. Member for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (Mr. Steel).
It has been the consistent policy of this and previous Administrations not to reveal details of specific defence exports to other countries or their consideration.