Daesh Has Used Chemical Weapons, CIA Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – CIA Director John Brennan said the ISIL (Daesh) terrorist group has used chemical weapons and has the capability to make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas.
"We have a number of instances where ISIL has used chemical munitions on the battlefield," Brennan said, The CBS News reported on Thursday.
He added the CIA believes that the ISIL group has the ability to make small amounts of mustard or chlorine gas for weapons.
"There are reports that ISIL has access to chemical precursors and munitions that they can use," Brennan said.
The CIA chief also warned of the possibility that the ISIL group could seek to export the weapons to the West for financial gain.
"I think there's always the potential for that. This is why it's so important to cut off the various transportation routes and smuggling routes that they have used," he said.
When asked if there were "American assets on the ground" searching for possible chemical weapons caches or labs, Brennan replied: "US intelligence is actively involved in being a part of the efforts to destroy ISIL and to get as much insight into what they have on the ground inside of Syria and Iraq."
The release of the interview excerpts comes two days after similar comments from Spy Chief James Clapper before a congressional committee.
"ISIL has also used toxic chemicals in Iraq and Syria, including the blister agent sulfur mustard," Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told lawmakers Tuesday.
He said it was the first time an extremist group had produced and used a chemical warfare agent in an attack since Japan's Aum Supreme Truth cult carried out a deadly sarin attack during rush hour in the Tokyo subway in 1995.