Iran’s top diplomat, who was in The Hague to attend the annual Conference of the Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, met with OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Iran’s foreign minister briefed the OPCW chief on the crimes committed by the Zionist regime in its June invasion of Iran and attacks on industrial facilities under OPCW supervision, and called on the organization to pay close attention to the issue.
“The Israeli regime, which has committed the most serious international crimes and poses a serious threat to international peace and security, remains outside the scope of the Chemical Weapons Convention,” Aragushi warned, emphasizing the international community’s responsibility to hold the Israeli regime accountable.
He also reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s determination to pursue the rights of chemical weapons victims, stating that Iran is the largest victim of chemical weapons since World War II.
He reminded the international community, particularly those countries that played a direct or indirect role in supplying chemical weapons to Saddam’s regime, of their responsibility in this regard.
The Foreign Minister said the illegal and unjust sanctions imposed on Iran and the barriers to access to medical and therapeutic supplies for survivors of chemical warfare are doubly unfair to the victims and their families.
He asserted that such sanctions amount to crimes against humanity and that the sanctioning parties and those enforcing them must be held accountable for committing these crimes.
The OPCW Director-General emphasized the Organization’s mission to prevent a repeat of past tragedies caused by the use of chemical weapons and expressed the OPCW Secretariat’s readiness to continue cooperating with Iran within the scope of the Organization’s mandate.
MNA/TSN