Our renowned international relations expert, Professor Anoush Ehteshami, has played a key role in a high-profile Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) inquiry.
The inquiry, which focused on Iran, was conducted by ISC - a statutory committee responsible for overseeing the work of the UK Intelligence Community.
The results of the extensive inquiry were published recently in a report, which takes in a culmination of evidence from August 2021 to August 2023.
Professor Ehteshami, an expert on Middle East regional security from our School of Government and International Affairs, was invited to provide oral evidence to the full ISC at its official premises.
The ISC regularly gathers evidence from a wide range of sources, including Government Ministers, heads of intelligence and security agencies, and senior officials across the UK Intelligence Community.
They also call upon expert witnesses such as academics, journalists, and other relevant stakeholders. Professor Ehteshami participated as part of a panel of three experts, which also included one of the UK’s former ambassadors to Iran.
The Committee’s work is supported by the Office of the ISC - a dedicated team of analysts and investigators with expertise in legal, technical, and financial matters, as required.
Due to the classified nature of the topics discussed, usually evidence sessions are held in private.
The Committee said it was particularly grateful to the experts from outside the Intelligence Community for volunteering their insights on Iran, which provided an invaluable foundation for the inquiry.
Professor Ehteshami was director at our Institute of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies until 2022 and holds the Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Chair in International Relations in the School of Government and International Affairs.
The committee clearly had a full agenda to discuss with invited guests and members appeared fully abreast of the complexities of Iran's governance structures and aspects of its security apparatus. But what they wanted was a great deal more analytical insights, depth, and a better sense of the drivers of Iran's regional behaviour and foreign policy and processes. Though events have overtaken some of the report's assumptions the analyses, observations and conclusions and recommendations of it remain valid and robust. The fact that it passed scrutiny by 10 Downing Street confirms the report's importance and the seriousness with which the government takes its findings.
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