Zarif calls U.S. accusation of chemical weapons program ‘obscene and dangerous’
TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that accusations from the United States that Tehran has a chemical weapons program are "obscene and dangerous".
"[The] U.S. wants to resort to international conventions to make allegations against Iran when it's made a policy of violating them itself," Zarif wrote on his Twitter account.
Zarif said that allegations about weapons of mass destruction "by a country that supported Iraq's use of [chemical weapons] against Iran, then invaded Iraq to allegedly rid it of them is not just obscene, it's dangerous".
A day earlier, Washington accused Tehran of failing to declare a chemical weapons program to the global watchdog in breach of international agreements, the Middle East Eye reported.
Earlier on Friday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Tehran "strongly rejects" Washington's allegations.
"The U.S. ... has made, as is its habit, baseless accusations against the Islamic republic which we strongly reject," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, as reported by AFP.
"Such incorrect and false accusations are due solely to enmity towards the Iranian nation and are intended to deflect international attention from its own broken commitments and continued support for the Zionist regime's chemical arsenal and for terrorist groups," the ministry stated.
Earlier this year, the U.S. president also pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between major powers and Tehran, a decision that has pit Washington against several of its key allies in Europe, who remain committed to the agreement.
On Friday, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Kazem Gharibabadi, called on the international community to stand up to the "irresponsible conduct" of the US.
He said Washington is pressuring other states to cease doing business with Iran, in contravention of the 2015 nuclear deal, and said Tehran would consider pulling out of the agreement if it no longer guarantees the interests of the Iranian people.
"It will be a great shame if the achievement of 12 years of multilateral diplomacy would be shattered by irresponsible behavior and unilateral action of one state," IRNA quoted Gharibabadi as saying.
On 12 November, the IAEA said Iran was abiding by the restrictions outlined in the 2015 agreement.
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