Richard Howitt (S&D). - Mr President, I want to use my intervention to once again press that, whilst we do welcome the release of some political prisoners and the reformist language used by President Rouhani, Europe must, in dealing with the nuclear issue, continue to not fail to continuously raise human rights, because – and not despite the fact that – the country’s Foreign Ministry yesterday called this aspect of our draft resolution ‘unrealistic’.

In particular, executions increased, even according to official figures, from 314 to 369 last year. As Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Prize winner, has asked of us, the EU should bring an end to public executions, and an end to the execution of children, a condition for moving forward. For all of us in this Chamber who cherish the right to religion and belief, I also join my colleague, Ms[nbsp ]Muñiz De Urquiza, in saying that we should do everything possible to ensure that right for the Baha’i in Iran.

I have heard some genuinely unrealistic things in this Chamber this morning, but I want to finish by saying that the joint action plan with Iran, together with others, represents a historic achievement of High Representative Ashton, for which we should be deeply grateful.