Iran Press/Iran News: Speaking at the National Conference on Chemical Defense held in Tehran on Sunday, Brigadier-General Gholam-Reza Jalali said: "Prohibition of the production and stockpiling chemical weapons in the world must have executive requirements."
"Today we still witness the use of chemical weapons against the people. For example, ISIS used chemical weapons against the Iraqi people, and everyone knows what countries created the terrorist group," head of Iranian Civil Defense Organization added.
He went on to say that the conventions prohibiting the production and accumulation of chemical weapons are not being implemented, and the United States and European countries are producing and stockpiling them, so an organization like the International Atomic Energy Agency must be set up in the chemical field to prevent this.
The official also criticized the performance of international institutions such as the fact-finding committees for chemical attacks because they do not disclose the behind-the-scenes production and sale of chemical weapons.
General Jalali referred to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution's fatwa regarding the ban on the production and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and said: "Iran has an economic and defensive approach toward the chemical industry." The chemical industry is the engine of the country's economy, and Iran is now one of the hubs of petrochemicals and chemicals, he noted. With an industrial and economic view in this industry, Iran has been able to create jobs in this field, the official concluded.
The National Conference on Chemical Defense was held in Tehran on Sunday on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the chemical attack on Sardasht with the attendance of senior military officials of Iran, including the senior aide and adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Major General Yahya Rahim-Safavi and Head of Iranian Civil Defense Organization Brigadier-General Gholam-Reza Jalali.
The Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein attacked Sardasht, in West Azerbaijan province, in northwestern Iran, with chemical weapons in 1987, making Sardasht one of the first cities in the world to be targeted by weapons of mass destruction.
On 28 and 29 June 1987, Iraqi bombers attacked four crowded districts of Sardasht with chemical bombs that engulfed its residents, women, and children, young and old, bringing death on a grand scale.
The chemical attack on Sardasht left at least 110 people killed, and 5,000 others injured, many receiving serious life-threatening injuries. June 28 has been designated as the National Day of Countering Chemical and Microbial Weapons.
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