Zarif Calls for Destruction of US Chemical Arsenal

In a message on the anniversary of the chemical bombing of the western Iranian city Sardasht in 1987, the Iranian foreign minister said Friday, “Iran, once more, emphasizes its principal policy of condemning the use of chemical weapons anywhere, anytime and under any circumstances.”

Zarif’s message was read out by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi during a ceremony on Friday.

The 1987 chemical bombing of Sardasht by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Iraqi-imposed war on Iran left over 100 people dead and thousands of others severely injured.

Iran believes that the main step toward having a world free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is “to completely destroy the chemical weapons arsenal of the US as the only owner of such weapons in the world,” the message said, Mehr news agency reported.

Criticizing the US for “being addicted to using inhumane tools of economic sanctions and terrorism” against Iran, Zarif said that the US sanctions have made the access of the Iranian victims of the chemical attack to the required medication much more difficult.

The Iranian foreign minister noted the US sanctions are imposed on Iran in violation of the international humanitarian law, and the spirit of non-proliferation conventions, and called on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to find an immediate solution for removing obstacles on the way to supplying the medications needed by the patients.

“The intentional negligence and ignorance of the international community and the member states of the chemical weapons convention in the face of such moves by the US is deeply regrettable, much like their silence thirty-one years ago toward the savage attack of the Baath dictator, backed by the US, against the defenseless civilians in Sardasht,” according to the message.

Zarif also said that failure to hold accountable the perpetrators of the chemical attacks along with their accomplices and supporters has given way to the extremist groups in the Middle East region to commit similar crimes.