TEHRAN – The Islamic Republic of Iran has been re-elected to the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for a two-year term. 

On the third day of the Sixteenth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the CWC in The Hague, which started on November 28 and ended on December 2, the member states unanimously re-elected Iran to the Executive Council. 

The OPCW is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and has the mandate to ensure the implementation of its provisions, including those for international verification of compliance with it. 

Iran’s representative to the OPCW has highlighted the importance of Iran’s re-election and said it is an opportunity for Iran to continue its campaign for the total abolition of chemical weapons throughout the world.

He added that during the new term, Iran will make every effort to compel the United States to meet its international commitments with regard to the total eradication of chemical weapons. 

Under the CWC, April 29, 2012 is the final deadline for the total eradication of all chemical weapons, but the U.S., which is the country that has the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons, has officially announced that it would not meet the 2012 deadline and has set 2021 as its target date.

Iran says the U.S. failure to fulfill its international obligations with regard to the total abolition of chemical weapons is in flagrant violation of the CWC and is a major threat to peace and security in the world, so states parties should take collective action to compel the U.S. to revise its military policies and bring them into line with the requirements of the CWC.