Chemical arsenals threat to global peace, security: Iran envoy

A senior Iranian official has held certain countries liable for the use of chemical weapons by terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, warning that chemical arsenals are a threat to global peace and security.

"There is no doubt that the remaining chemical arsenals belonging to both states parties and non-parties can endanger global peace and security," the director general for political and international security affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry, Gholam Hossein Dehqani, said in an address to the 22nd session of the Conference of the States Parties (CSP-22) to the Chemical Weapons Convention in the Hague, Netherlands, on Friday.

He added that terrorist groups' use of chemical weapons in Syria and Iraq was the obvious consequence of direct or indirect support provided to them by certain countries.

The Iranian diplomat called on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to oblige non-parties, particularly the Israeli regime, to join the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

He emphasized that the Israeli regime possesses weapons of mass destruction but is not a signatory to any international treaty in this regard.

Dehqani also urged the United States, which has the largest stockpile of chemical weapons, to adopt necessary measures to destroy its chemical arsenals as soon as possible.

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