British defence secretary says Britain must honor Iran debt

Ben Wallace told Times Radio it was “absolutely right” that “we should honor that debt”.

Speaking about the case, he said: “What we’ve said very clearly is that we comply with the law and the rule of law . . . we should honor that debt and we should find ways to return it to Iran.

International Military Services (IMS), a subsidiary of the British Ministry of Defense, signed contracts in 1971 to sell more than 1,750 Chieftain tanks and armored vehicles to Iran.

The deals were canceled after the Shah was deposed in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but Iran had already paid for the undelivered tanks and demanded its money back.

International arbitration in 2008 ruled the UK owed the debt, but it has not yet paid up.

Back in September 2020, Iran's Ministry of Defense called on the UK to take immediate action to pay the 40-year debt, stating that the issue of paying off Iran’s debt by the UK government has nothing to do with the release of some prisoners.

Earlier, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that the issue of paying off Iran’s debt by the UK government has nothing to do with the release of dual-national prisoners.

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