Simon Gass
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Simon Gass
Sir Simon Lawrance Gass (born 2 November 1956) is a British civil servant. Since 2019, he has chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee and he also currently serves as the British Prime Minister's representative on Afghanistan. Between 2018 and 2019, he was the Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies. During his diplomatic career, he served as British ambassador to Greece and to Iran. Career * 1977 – Joined the FCO * 1979–83 – Lagos * 1984–87 – Athens * 1987–90 – FCO in London * 1990–92 – Assistant Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary, London * 1992–95 – Rome * 1995–98 – Counsellor, FCO * 1998–01 – Deputy High Commissioner South Africa * 2001–04 – Director, Resources, then Finance, FCO * 2004–09 – Ambassador to Greece * 2009–11 – Ambassador to Iran * 2011–12 – NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan * 2013–16 – Political Director, FCO, and Prime Minister's Special Representative for Afghanistan an ...
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Joint Intelligence Committee (United Kingdom)
The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) is an interagency deliberative body of the United Kingdom responsible for intelligence assessment, coordination, and oversight of the Secret Intelligence Service, Security Service, GCHQ, and Defence Intelligence. The JIC is supported by the Joint Intelligence Organisation under the Cabinet Office. History The JIC was founded on 7 July 1936 as a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence, the advisory peacetime defence planning agency. During World War II, it became the senior intelligence assessment body in the UK. In 1957 the JIC moved to the Cabinet Office, where its assessments staff prepare draft intelligence assessments for the committee to consider. Role in the Iraq dossier The JIC played a controversial role in compiling a dossier in which the UK government highlighted the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in the run up to the Iraq War. There were allegations that the dossier was "sexed up" prior to publi ...
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Foreign And Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID). The FCO, itself created in 1968 by the merger of the Foreign Office (FO) and the Commonwealth Office, was responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide. The head of the FCDO is the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, commonly abbreviated to "Foreign Secretary". This is regarded as one of the four most prestigious positions in the Cabinet – the Great Offices of State – alongside those of Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. James Cleverly was appointed Foreign Secretary on 6 September 2022. The FCDO is managed day-to-day by a civil servant, the permanent under-secre ...
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NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implemented the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the perceived threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The organization's motto is '' animus in consulendo liber'' (Latin for "a mind unfettered in deliberation"). NATO's main headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, while ...
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Nasrin Sotoudeh
Nasrin Sotoudeh ( fa, نسرین ستوده) is a human rights lawyer in Iran. She has represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections as well as prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors. Her clients have included journalist Isa Saharkhiz, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and Heshmat Tabarzadi. She has also represented women arrested for appearing in public without a hijab, which is a punishable offence in Iran. Nasrin Sotoudeh was the subject of ''Nasrin'', a 2020 documentary filmed in secret in Iran about Sotoudeh's "ongoing battles for the rights of women, children and minorities." In 2021, she was named as of ''Times 100 Most Influential People in the World. Life Sotoudeh was arrested in September 2010 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security and was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. In January 2011, ...
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Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most populous city in Iran and Western Asia, and has the second-largest metropolitan area in the Middle East, after Cairo. It is ranked 24th in the world by metropolitan area population. In the Classical era, part of the territory of present-day Tehran was occupied by Rhages, a prominent Median city destroyed in the medieval Arab, Turkic, and Mongol invasions. Modern Ray is an urban area absorbed into the metropolitan area of Greater Tehran. Tehran was first chosen as the capital of Iran by Agha Mohammad Khan of the Qajar dynasty in 1786, because of its proximity to Iran's territories in the Caucasus, then separated from Iran in the Russo-Iranian Wars, to avoid the vying factions of the previously ruling Iranian dynasties. The capital has b ...
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Mahmoud Ahmedinejad
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدی‌نژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956),
is an Iranian Iranian Principlists, principlist politician who served as the sixth from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a member of the . He was known for his hardline views and ...
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Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Sea of Crete and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin, featuring thousands of islands. The country consists of nine traditional geographic regions, and has a population of approximately 10.4 million. Athens is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki and Patras. Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilization, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematica ...
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FCDO Services
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID). The FCO, itself created in 1968 by the merger of the Foreign Office (FO) and the Commonwealth Office, was responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide. The head of the FCDO is the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, commonly abbreviated to "Foreign Secretary". This is regarded as one of the four most prestigious positions in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet – the Great Offices of State – alongside those of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary ...
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List Of Ambassadors Of The United Kingdom To Iran
The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Iran is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and in charge of the UK's diplomatic mission in Iran. The official title is ''His Majesty's Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran''. Although Britain and Iran (originally Persia) did not enter into formal diplomatic relations until 1807, British and Iranians had been in informal contact since the early 17th century when the East India Company developed trade links with the Persian kingdom. Initially, diplomatic missions comprised a legation until they were promoted to embassy status in 1943. At various times in history during crises or disputes, Britain has had no diplomatic presence in the country, and has either relied on other nations as protecting powers, or has had a non-resident diplomat. Heads of Mission Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary (1807–1944) *1807–1811: Sir Harford Jones-Brydges, 1st Baronet, ...
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List Of Ambassadors Of The United Kingdom To Greece
The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Greece is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Greece, and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Greece. The official title is His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic. The modern Greek state (then the Kingdom of Greece) was established in 1832 at the London Conference of 1832 and internationally recognised in the same year by the Treaty of Constantinople, in which Greece secured full independence from the Ottoman Empire. Besides the embassy in Athens, the UK government is represented by vice-consulates on the islands of Corfu, Crete and Rhodes, and by an honorary vice consulate on Zakynthos. Heads of Mission Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Greece *1833–1835: Edward DawkinsHaydn, Joseph, ''The Book of Dignities: Containing Rolls of the Official Personages of the British Empire'' (1851) *1835–1849: Sir Edmund Lyons, Bt *1849–1862: Sir Thomas Wyse Envoy Extraordinary and ...
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Secretary Of State For Foreign And Commonwealth Affairs
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as one of the most senior ministers in the government and a Great Office of State, the incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The office holder works alongside the other Foreign Office ministers. The corresponding shadow minister is the Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. The performance of the secretary of state is also scrutinised by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. The current foreign secretary is James Cleverly MP, appointed in the September 2022 cabinet reshuffle. Responsibilities Corresponding to what is generally known as a foreign minister in many other countries, the foreign secretary's remit includes: * British relations with foreign countries and government ...
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