US accuses Iran of involvement in chemical weapon trade

Islam Mohamed

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.