Acting Iranian Foreign Minister pays tribute to victims of chemical weapons attacks on Sardasht

TEHRAN – Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani commemorated the victims of the chemical weapons attacks on the northwestern city of Sardasht forty years ago.

In a statement released on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the chemical weapons attacks and the National Day for Combating Chemical and Biological Weapons, Baqeri Kani stressed that sanctions imposed by Western governments and the United States had hampered the provision of medical supplies and equipment needed to treat survivors of the Iranian chemical weapons attack.

The statement reads:

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

While honoring the memory of the martyrs of my service, the late President Ebrahim Raisi, the late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and their companions, I would like to pay my deepest respects to the martyrs of chemical weapons attacks, especially the martyrs of the cowardly chemical weapons attack on the city of Sardasht by the former Iraqi Baath regime. I ask God Almighty to grant health and well-being to the honorable chemical weapons veterans who patiently endure the ordeal of using these inhumane weapons.

The choice of the anniversary of the chemical bombing of Sardasht as the National Day for Combating Chemical and Biological Weapons is intended to highlight the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran is, on the one hand, the greatest victim of the widespread use of chemical weapons in recent history, but, on the other hand, is firmly committed to opposing such weapons. The scale of the Saddam regime’s chemical attacks during the war imposed on Iraq, which took place with the support of some Western powers and the deadly silence of international organizations, was so great that there is no comparable example in recent history.

Hundreds of chemical attacks on Iranian forces and civilians in the cities and villages of the Islamic Republic of Iran resulted in martyrdom and injury to more than 100,000 people. The bitter silence of the international bodies in the face of the use of weapons of mass destruction against ordinary citizens and fighters on the fronts of the imposed war was one of the clearest signs of Iran’s oppression in this unequal confrontation. In return, the Islamic Republic of Iran adhered to its ethical and religious humanitarian obligations and refrained from taking any countermeasures against the use of these terrible weapons.

The massive use of chemical weapons by Saddam’s regime during the eight years of Sacred Defense was made possible by the effective material, scientific and technical support of some European governments and companies, notably Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain, as well as by the extensive political, military and diplomatic support of that regime’s war machine by the United States and Great Britain.

Today, incriminating documents show that Saddam was unable to produce and use these inhumane weapons without extensive financial support and the export to Iraq by the European and American governments of the technical and engineering know-how, materials and equipment necessary for the production and use of chemical weapons.

Although UN experts confirmed the ongoing use of chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and citizens, the same Western countries imposed a massive media and news blackout on the issue, while not ceasing their political, diplomatic and military support to the Saddam regime. Even in the responsible international institutions and legal bodies, they prevented the voice of the Iranian nation from being heard and the rights and innocence of the chemical weapons victims from being proven. Such inhuman and illegal actions will never be erased from the historical memory of the Iranian nation.

The trials of the perpetrators of the chemical weapons attacks and their accomplices against the Islamic Republic of Iran will not be forgotten over time. In addition to trying the criminals in the court of human conscience and public opinion, national and international courts must fulfill their responsibility to bring the criminals to justice and restore the moral and material rights of the victims of the chemical weapons attacks. Such measures are necessary, among other things, to prevent a repetition of such tragedies in the future.

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as part of its diplomatic efforts to protect its citizens, will support legal proceedings against nationals and companies of other countries that were involved in the crimes of the Saddam regime.

Over the past four decades, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has not given up its efforts to provide medical and health care to chemical weapons victims to alleviate their suffering. However, in recent years, the provision of some medical items and equipment required for the treatment of chemical weapons veterans has faced numerous problems due to the illegal and cruel unilateral sanctions imposed by Western countries, particularly the United States. In this context, I would like to stress that the repeated claim by the United States that humanitarian items are exempt from sanctions is a blatant lie and completely untrue, and this fact was also confirmed in the report of the Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures.

The chemical veterans, as victims of arms deliveries from Western countries, are still victims of inhumane sanctions by the same states.

Of course, such actions are an inseparable part of the character of some Western governments. The massive genocide of the child-murdering Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip, which has been going on for nine months, is a clear example of this.

The same countries that fully supported Saddam in producing and using chemical weapons against Iran – including the oppressed women and children of Sardasht – today fully support the Zionist regime and are direct accomplices in the genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli regime in the Gaza Strip.

The same governments that are denying Iran access to medicines through embargoes are in fact openly supporting the Israeli regime’s actions in preventing the delivery of food and medicine to the people of the Gaza Strip and in using starvation as a war tactic.

The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the realisation of the objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the creation of a world free of chemical weapons to be of utmost importance and shall continue its efforts to implement all the provisions of the Convention in a full, effective, balanced and non-discriminatory manner, in particular to promote international cooperation in the peaceful uses of scientific knowledge and chemical substances and to contribute to protection against chemical weapons.

Hosting the 11th International Course on Medical Assistance and Protection against Chemical Weapons in October 2023 in cooperation with the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons with the aim of increasing the capacity and preparedness of the Organization’s member states with regard to the use of chemical weapons as well as industrial chemical incidents is one of the measures recently taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran to this end.

Finally, I would like to once again honor the memory of all the martyrs of the imposed war, especially the martyrs of the chemical weapons attack on the city of Sardasht, and pray for the health and long life of chemical weapons veterans.