Iranian Minister Warns against Formation of Chemical Terrorism in West Asia


Iranian Minister Warns against Formation of Chemical Terrorism in West Asia

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami highlighted the Western support for terrorist groups in West Asia and cautioned against the formation of “organized chemical terrorism” in the region.

In a statement released on Friday to commemorate the anniversary of the 1987 chemical bombing of the northwestern city of Sardasht by the Iraqi army under former dictator Saddam Hussein, Brigadier General Amir Hatami described Iran as the biggest victim of chemical weapons.

Months before the chemical attack on Sardasht, the US as a self-proclaimed human rights defender vetoed a statement (not a resolution) by the majority of UN Security Council members, which condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Iraqi government, the defense minister noted.

“Two decades after the establishment of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), we are faced with concerns about peace and security in the region,” he stated.

He further pointed to the cooperation of some Western and Arab countries as well as the Zionist regime of Israel with terrorist groups in the West Asia region and warned against “the formation of organized chemical terrorism” in the region.

Located in Iran's northwestern province of West Azarbaijan, Sardasht was the third city in the world after Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki to become a target of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

On June 28 and 29, 1987, Iraqi bombers attacked 4 crowded parts of Sardasht with chemical bombs and engulfed its residents, women and children, young and old, with fatal chemical gases.

The attacks killed 116 citizens and injured over 5,000.

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