Emily Thornberry insists Iran clashes are her brief as she defends Jeremy Corbyn silence

Emily Thornberry has defended Jeremy Corbyn’s silence over the ongoing clashes in Iran, insisting that he trusts her to speak on the issue for Labour as Shadow Foreign Secretary.



The Labour leader – who has previously carried out paid work for a TV station backed by the Iranian government – has yet to publicly comment on the situation, which has seen more than 20 anti-government protestors killed and over a thousand arrested.

Speaking on BBC 5Live, Ms Thornberry insisted Mr Corbyn did not need to comment, as the issue was within her foreign affairs brief.

“I’m the Shadow Foreign Secretary. He trusts me to do my job, I go out and I speak on many issues,” she said.

“He hasn’t spoken on Zimbabwe, he hasn’t spoken on Yemen. It is my job, it’s what I do, he trusts me to do it, I’ve had discussions with him, we had a discussion about it in the Shadow Cabinet yesterday.”

Ms Thornberry was herself criticised last week for saying Labour cannot support anti-government protesters because it was unclear who were "the guys with white hats" in the conflict.

She added: “I had discussions with Jeremy before and after I made the statement. I speak on behalf of the Labour party.”

Ms Thornberry added that Labour would not hold back in condemning the actions of Iran's theocratic regime.

"It is unacceptable for them to be hanging gay men from cranes, for them to round up peaceful demonstrators and to lock them up,” she added.

Tom Tugenhadt, the Tory chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said Labour's position was "extraordinary".

Mr Tugendhat said it was "hardly a knee jerk reaction" to condemn the Iranian regime, which he claimed had been brutalising women and murdering gay people for 40 years.