Iran Denies Allegations of Chlorine Bomb Shipments to Syria

The Telegraph Media Group reported on May 6 that western security officials are investigating allegations that Iran supplied Chinese-made bombs filled with chlorine gas to the Syrian government after satellite images emerged of a Syrian supply flight at Tehran’s main airport.

In reply, the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday dismissed the allegations as bogus and unsubstantiated, which it said are made to draw the public attention away from the realities on the ground in Syria.

“Given the main source that published that report, which is a news agency affiliated with the Zionist regime (of Israel), such claim further turns out to be false and fabricated,” the Foreign Ministry said in an explanation text provided for the media outlets.

“This is not the first time that the Zionist news agency (The Telegraph) resorts to falsification in order to divert the public opinion from the realities,” it added.

Iranian officials have repeatedly underlined that the Islamic Republic’s support for the Syrian government is confined to the advisory assistance and sharing experience.

Earlier in April, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said it is the IRGC's duty to play a role in Syria, since the Arab country is considered as the center of confrontation between the arrogant powers and the anti-Israel resistance front.

Major General Jafari, however, dismissed claims about IRGC’s military presence in Syria, and said the support for the Syrian government comes in the form of advisory assistance.

"We provide support for Syria in the training and software fields," he said at the time.