US chemical accusations against Iran ‘obscene and dangerous’: Zarif

Iran has strongly denounced US claims of developing chemical weapons, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warning that the allegations are not just “obscene” but “dangerous.”

The accusation, made by US Ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Kenneth Ward Thursday, came amid Washington ratcheting up pressure on Iran which is refusing to submit to American demands.

Ward did not say Iran has used chemical weapons but rather that it has allegedly maintained facilities and equipment which can be used for their production.

Zarif dismissed the allegations late Friday, saying the US “wants to resort to international conventions to make allegations against Iran when it’s made a policy of violating them itself.”

Such allegations “by a country that supported Iraq’s use of CW [chemical weapons] against Iran, then invaded Iraq to allegedly rid it of them is not just obscene, it’s dangerous,” he said in a tweet.