Iran Press/Iran news: The Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami remarked June 28, the National Day of campaign against chemical and biological weapons, saying the day is reminiscent of Saddam's brutalities, using chemical weapons against the defenceless population of Iran's border cities.
He referred to West's efforts to whitewash its role in equipping Saddam with chemical weapons and downplaying his war crimes, and noted that more than 20 thousands of Iranian military forces and civilians were killed in Saddam's chemical attacks, Iran Press reported.
General Hatami referred to the Western countries admission that Saddam's armies carried out over 30 chemical attacks on non-military and civilian targets in Iran, such as hospitals, asserting that the peak of the brutalities was the chemical bombardment of Sardasht on June 28, 1987, which left 4500 people killed and injured.
"Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Convention (PCWC), for most part, owes its existence to global revulsion at Saddam's crimes," said General Hatami, adding: "From the beginning of the convention (PCWC), we have witnessed the active and effective presence of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the biggest victim of chemical attacks, and all have acknowledged this."
The Iranian minister pointed to the Saudi regime's war against Yemen and the continuing massacring of Yemeni civilians, using Western-supplied weaponry, saying that they must be held responsible, by conscientious human beings, for their past and current brutalities.
On 28 and 29 June 1987, Iraqi bombers attacked four crowded districts of Sardasht with chemical bombs which engulfed its residents, women and children, young and old, bringing death on a grand scale.
Today, 32 years after the event, many residents of Sardasht are suffering from the horrid effects of a nerve-agent chemical attack, and struggling for their lives. 101/211/215
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Iran marks 32nd anniversary of Sardasht chemical attack
