TEHRAN - Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military advisor to the Leader, suggested on Sunday that the armed forces must constantly promote their combat readiness.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference held to remember the victims of chemical attack on the Iranian town of Sardasht in the summer of 1987 by the Saddam regime, Safavi also said due to great deterrence power of the armed forces there is no “shadow of war” on Iran.

He also said, “We need to prepare our centers of public education, universities and also industrial centers to produce medical equipment and necessary vaccines to counter probable chemical threats.” 

The former IRGC chief also said that chemical attacks against Iran during Iraq’s war against Iran in the 1980s were “crime against humanity”.

“Those who gave Saddam [Hussein] chemical weapons and kept silence on his brutal actions, are accomplice to Saddam’s crimes,” he noted.

The senior general also said that supporters of Saddam’s crimes must be tried in the International Court of Justice.

On June 28, 1987, the city of Sardasht in West Azarbaijan Province was attacked with chemical weapons by Saddam Hussein’s regime. The tragic event left a deadly legacy. Many people were exposed to the painful long-term effects of chemical weapons, in many cases with lasting disabilities.

‘It is essential to create headquarters to counter biological threats’

During his speech at the ceremony marking the victims of chemical attack on Sardasht, Safavi also said that it is essential to create a center to counter biological and chemical threats.

The center must be at national level to counter and manage possible incidents, he said.

NA/PA