Friday, November 30, 2018

US having darkest past in prohibited arms: Analyst

Tehran, Nov 26, IRNA – The record of the United States in using chemical and other prohibited weaponry is the darkest in the world, a political analyst told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Monday.

'The US has used chemical and other prohibited weapons, such as phosphorus munitions, in different wars; and in the Iran-Iraq War, the US, along with Europeans, gave such weaponry to Saddam Hussein. So there is no record darker than that of the US in this regard,' said Mohammad Marandi, a professor of the English literature and orientology at Tehran University. 

'Both the previous US administrations and the present ones have brought accusations against Iran about terrorism, nuclear weaponry, human rights; US President Donald Trump wanted to add a chemical one to the list, which has not been surprising at all to be heard from a previous or the present US government' 

Marandi said, 'Iranian people are especially sensitive to chemical weapons inasmuch as the US and the Europeans armed Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons during his invasion of Iran, which resulted in death and contamination of a group of Iranians; many are dying off.'

Saying that chemical weapons were widely used against Iran by Iraq during the war, he added, 'In the Eight-Year War, the US and Europe tried to help Saddam as much as they could; that's why making a chemical accusation against Iran is the most absurd of all.' 

'The countries that were behind the chemical attacks on Iran are actually responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iranians.'

He added that only in Halabja, which is a part of Iraq, 7,000 were killed.

Comparing such accusations with those the US made before attacking Iraq in 2003, he said, 'The accusations made by the US was absurd at that time too because they themselves had equipped Saddam with chemical weapons.'

'Although it was common knowledge that Iraq has annihilated its chemical weapons under supervision of the United Nations, they kept accusing Iraq.'

The professor at University of Tehran said, 'However, I see it highly improbable that Trump will attack Iran.'

'Iran is not like Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan or Vietnam; it is a very powerful country with powerful allies throughout the region.'

'What's more the US is busily engaged with other powers, such as China, Europe, and Russia, in different fields,' Marandi said. 

He added that the US' accusation against the Syrian Government was also an open lie, because the Syrian army was advancing and had no motive to use chemical weapons. 

The real motive for such allegations is not clear, but it looks the US is trying to distract the world from the Saudi's actions and increase pressure on Iran. 

The US Ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Kenneth Ward in the organization's recent meeting in The Hague accused Iran of being 'secretive' about chemical weapons, this is while the US holds one of the biggest chemical and atomic arsenals in the world.

In response to the allegations, Director-General of the Department of International Peace and Security of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Reza Najafi issued a statement and said that all the accusations are 'baseless.'

Najafi said, 'We are not surprised by the new baseless accusations of the United States under the current administration which we categorically reject. As my Minister twitted “if they say Iran perhaps is responsible for the California fires, because we didn’t help rake the forests— just like the Finns do!” you should not be surprised.'

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