US accuses Iran of involvement in chemical weapon trade
New accusations are being made against Iran of involvement in the smuggling of banned chemical weapons across the region.
Former US secretary of state Mike
Pompeo revealed recently that his country had removed a ban on classified
documents on Iran's chemical weapons trade during the Libyan-Chadian war
between 1978 and 1987.
The documents accuse Iran of
providing the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi with chemical weapons during
the war.
Following Gaddafi's downfall, some of
these weapons were found in different parts of Libya. They had Farsi writing on
them.
In 1987, Washington accused Iran of
using mustard gas in Basra, Iraq, during the Iranian-Iraqi war.
United Nations inspectors found
chemical mortar shells in al-Muthanna province in 1991. Iraqi officials said
they shells belonged to the Iranian army.
The United States also accused Iran
of failing in notifying the secretariat of the agreement on the non-proliferation
of nuclear weapons about its ability to produce chemical materials that could
be used in counter riots.
The Department of State also
expressed concern over researches made in Imam
Hossein University and Malek-Ashtar University on chemical materials.
The United States
imposed sanctions last month on Iranian institutions specialized in the making
of materials used in countering riots.
Tarek Aziz, a senior political figure under the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, had earlier accused Iran of using chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds in Halabja in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
