A foreign ministry official called on the states possessing chemical weapons to fully comply with their obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Hadi Farajvand, the secretary of the foreign ministry commission on disarmament conventions, made the remarks on Monday in the 19th annual conference of the Organization of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, IRNA reported. The representative to the conference also called for the removal of the restrictions and illegal sanctions unilaterally imposed on Iran, which have impeded the process of meeting the needs of the victims of such weapons.
Elaborating on Iran's stance on chemical weapons, Farajvand said existence of such weapons in the world endangers international peace and security. He called on the member states of the OPCW to eradicate their stockpiles of chemical weapons on the basis of the decisions made at the organization.
Describing Iran as the primary victim of chemical weapons, he said thousands of people in Iran are still suffering from the dreadful effects of such "deadly" and "inhumane" weapons.
The official praised the decision made to form an international network to support victims of chemical weapons, which was approved at the 16th conference of the member states.
The OPCW is an intergovernmental organization which promotes and verifies the adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention which prohibits the use of chemical weapons and requires their destruction. The five-day annual conference of OPCW member states started on Monday.
