US Chemical Weapons Claim against Iran ‘Obscene’: FM Zarif
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said US accusations that Iran has failed to declare "a toxic arms program" to the global chemical warfare watchdog are "obscene and dangerous".
“US wants to resort to int'l conventions to make allegations against Iran when it's made a policy of violating them itself. WMD allegations—by a country that supported Iraq’s use of CW against Iran; then invaded Iraq to allegedly rid it of them—is not just obscene, it’s dangerous,” Zarif said in a message posted on his Twitter account late on Friday.
The United States has accused Iran of failing to declare chemical weapons-related activities in violation of commitments to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The accusations were leveled Thursday by the US mission to the OPCW in The Hague on Thursday.
US envoy Kenneth Ward said Washington is concerned that Iran is developing “central nervous system-acting chemicals” for offensive military purposes.
Many Iranians are still suffering from the effects of chemical weapons used by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was backed by the US and Europe during his eight-year war on Iran in the 1980s.
At the time, repeated use of chemical weapons by Saddam against Iranian troops and civilians was met with the deafening silence of the West.
Iran never retaliated against Iraq’s chemical weapons attacks on troops and civilians, which killed 20,000 Iranians and severely injured 100,000 more.
Under the Trump administration, Washington has taken an increasingly hostile approach toward Tehran. Iranian officials have said the US measures are tantamount to an economic war on Iran.
