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TEHRAN, Jun 25 - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the Islamic Republic will never pursue a nuclear weapon based on its religious and strategic beliefs, stressing the importance of dismantling chemical arms across the world.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Zarif made the remarks in an address to a conference held to mark a deadly chemical attack by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on the Iranian city of Sardasht in West Azarbaijan Province in 1987.
He dismissed the West’s claims about its fight against weapons of mass destruction and said the Islamic Republic has provided reliable evidence on Saddam’s use of chemical weapons against the Iranian people, but Western countries put a cover on it.
He added that the then UN chief sent six delegations to Iran in response to the country’s repeated calls and despite Washington’s acts of obstruction.
These delegations visited Iranian hospitals, talked to the victims of Saddam’s chemical weapons attack and presented “undeniable” reports, but the West made no comment on the issue, he noted.
The Iranian foreign minister emphasized that those who claim that chemical weapons are their red line but paved the way in 1980s for Saddam to use chemical weapons are in no position on weapons of mass destruction.
“If you had stopped Saddam then, today Daesh wouldn’t have dared to use chemical weapons against Iraqi and Syrian people. And even today, the Western powers are trying to cover up the use of chemical weapons by their stooges,” Zarif pointed out.
He added that Iran has been at the forefront of confronting nuclear weapons and said, “We are trying to establish a world and a region free of chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction.”
The Iranian foreign minister also pointed to recent comments by US President Donald Trump that he had called off a military strike on Iran because it would have killed 150 people.
“You were really worried about 150 people? How many people have you killed with a nuclear weapon? How many generations have you wiped out with these weapons?” Zarif said.
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