TEHRAN -- The 8th International Course on the Medical Aspects of Defense against Chemical Weapons opened here on Saturday at the Baqiatollah Hospital.

Specialist physicians from 24 countries are participating in the four-day course, which will be focusing on theoretical discussions about Iran’s discoveries for the treatment of injuries caused by chemical weapons.

The foreign guests are also scheduled to visit chemically-wounded Iranian war veterans in hospitals and to discuss various dimensions of the former Iraqi Baathist regime’s atrocities against the Iranian nation.

During the opening ceremony, Reza Tabatabaii, the director of the Tehran office of The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said that Iran welcomes this opportunity to both express its opposition to all weapons of mass destruction, and particularly chemical weapons, and also to reveal the horrific crimes of Saddam Hussein, who is currently on trial.

He went on to say that Iran decided to hold this international medical education course after officially joining the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Tabatabaii stated that the Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to share its experiences and its discoveries for the treatment of chemical weapons injuries, for which it paid a heavy price.