Suing perpetrators of chemical attacks against Iran not time-bound: Interim FM

Interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has stressed that Iran will surely bring a lawsuit against those behind chemical attacks against the country, stressing that such a legal measure is not subject to the passage of time and averts tragedies like the one in the city of Sardasht.

He made the remarks in a message issued on Saturday to mark the 37th anniversary of a chemical attack on Sardasht by Western-backed former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Bagheri Kani said that the widespread use of chemical weapons by the Saddam regime against Iran was made possible under the political, military and diplomatic support of the US and Britain, as well as financial, scientific and technical backing of some European governments and companies, especially Germany and the Netherlands.

These countries, he added, prevented Iran from upholding the rights of survivors of the chemical attacks in international tribunals.

“Filing lawsuits against the perpetrators and assistants of chemical attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran will never be subject to the passage of time,” the top diplomat asserted.

“In addition to prosecuting criminals in the court of human conscience and public opinion, national and international courts should also fulfill their responsibility and hold these criminals accountable … to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies in the future.”

Anniversary of Sardasht chemical bombing

Sardasht was targeted with chemical agents on June 28, 1987, during Iraq’s imposed war on Iran

Bagheri Kani also noted that the victims of chemical weapons, which were supplied to Iraq by the West, are today the victims of inhumane sanctions imposed on Iran by the very same states.

“The same countries, which fully supported Saddam to produce and use chemical weapons against Iranians, including the oppressed women and children of Sardasht, are today full-fledged supporters and direct partners in Israel’s genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

“The same countries, which block the access of our victims of chemical weapons to medicines through sanctions, are practically and openly supporting the Israeli regime that is obstructing the delivery of food and medicines to the people of Gaza and using starvation as a method of warfare.”

The interim foreign minister further emphasized that Iran has a firm will to seriously oppose chemical arms as the country is the biggest victim of the use of such weapons in modern history.

The Islamic Republic, he said, attaches great importance to the realization of the goals of the Chemical Weapons Convention and continues its efforts towards a world free of chemical arms.

On June 28, 1987, the Saddam regime dropped mustard gas bombs on Sardasht, a small city in Iran’s West Azarbaijan Province.

The attack killed at least 119 Iranian civilians and injured another 8,000, leaving some of them permanently disabled.

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