OPCW’s political approach towards Syria ‘failed strategy’: Iran envoy

A senior Iranian diplomat has censured the politicization of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) over the Syrian file, saying the body’s political approach toward the war-torn country has proven to be a failure.

Addressing a United Nations Security Council meeting on Syria, Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani voiced concern over the exploitation and politicization of the OPCW.

He said it has caused division among member states and weakened the legitimacy of the disarmament machinery. 

“The political approach towards the Syrian file has been a failed strategy, jeopardizing the process aimed at resolving outstanding issues,” he said.

According to Iravani, the January 27 report by the OPCW’s so-called Investigation and Identification Team was based on unauthorized sources and disregarded the Syrian government’s observations.

In the OPCW’s report, the body’s investigators said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that at least one Syrian air force helicopter had dropped two cylinders of toxic gas on the town of Douma near the capital Damascus on April 2018.

Western countries quickly blamed the alleged attack on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A week later, the United States, Britain, and France launched a coordinated missile attack against sites and research facilities near Damascus and the western Syrian city of Homs with the purported goal of paralyzing the Syrian government’s capability to produce chemicals.

Damascus has repeatedly asserted that no chemical attack had happened on the town at the time and that the incident had been staged by foreign intelligence agencies to pressure the Syrian government at a time when it was making significant advances against foreign-backed terrorists across the Arab country's soil.

'Iran main victim of chemical weapons'

Elsewhere in his remarks, Iravani said “the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the main victim of chemical weapons, strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons by anyone, in any place and under any circumstances.”

The use of chemical weapons is “a crime against humanity and a blatant violation of international law,” he said. “This is why the Iranian people will never forget how Western countries supported the Saddam Hussein regime in its systematic use of chemical weapons against them.”

Syria strongly rejects OPCW 'misleading report' on alleged 2018 chemical attack in Douma

Syria categorically rejects OPCW report accusing Damascus of an alleged 2018 chemical attack.

The senior Iranian diplomat reiterated the country’s support for constructive dialogue between Syria and the OPCW at the highest level based on a specific time frame in order to resolve the remaining issues.

He emphasized that any probe into Syria’s chemical weapons file must be impartial, professional and objective in accordance with the OPCW.

Given the lack of progress, monthly meetings on the Syrian chemical weapons file were counterproductive and a waste of the Security Council’s time, Iravani added.

Syria surrendered its stockpile of chemical weapons in 2014 to a joint mission led by the United States and OPCW, which oversaw the destruction of the weaponry.

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