TEHRAN – Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi has said that the United States and the Zionist regime are the greatest violators of the Chemical Weapons Convention. 

 

Vahidi made the remarks in a statement issued on Wednesday, a day before the National Day of Campaign against Use of Chemical and Microbiological Weapons in Iran. 

 

The occasion coincides with the commemoration of the anniversary of the dastardly chemical attacks on the northwestern Iranian city of Sardasht in West Azerbaijan Province by the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on June 28, 1987. 

 

Following are excerpts of Vahidi’s statement: 

 

According to the Chemical Weapons Convention, 2012 was the final deadline for the abolition of chemical weapons by the countries possessing such kind of weapons. 

 

(But) the United States of America, as the greatest possessor of chemical weapons which itself is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, has blatantly and clearly violated the Chemical Weapons Convention through its non-compliance with the convention. 

 

(April 29, 2012 had been set as 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, failed to meet the 2012 deadline and set 2021 as its target date.)  

 

If chemical (weapons) arsenals of the countries possessing chemical weapons are not destroyed, this would constitute a threat to international peace and security and would cause the fear of the use of and threat to use chemical weapons in the world to persist. 

 

The Zionist regime has been increasing concerns about the proliferation of such weapons through preventing international organizations from inspecting its chemical (weapons) facilities.  

 

The Islamic Republic of Iran seriously calls on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to make serious efforts to fully realize the purposes of the convention in question, including the destruction of all chemical weapons in the world. 

 

The United Nations, for its part, should make efforts to help create a world free of chemical weapons.