US Sanctions Impeding Iranian Chemical Attack Victims’ Access to Medication: Zarif
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif slammed the US sanctions as a main obstacle preventing the delivery of medicine and equipment to the Iranians victimized by chemical weapons.
Zarif on Monday released a message in commemoration of the victims of the 1987 chemical bombing of Sardasht by the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The foreign minister said the city of Sardasht, located in northwest Iran, has become the symbol of use of chemical weapons against civilians and residential areas in the modern age.
He also noted that the Iranian people harmed by chemical attacks have fallen victim to the “anti-human policies of certain Western states” two times: once when Western companies provided Saddam with chemical weapons while their representatives at the UN Security Council turned a blind eye to the chemical crimes and gave Saddam carte blanche in using chemical weapons against civilians, and then again during the tenure of former US president Donald Trump when the brutal and anti-human sanctions prevented the delivery of drugs and medical equipment to the victims of chemical attacks in Iran.
Zarif lashed out at the current US administration for maintaining the failed policies of its predecessor by keeping the illegal sanctions against Iran in place.
The top Iranian diplomat made two proposals to prevent a recurrence of the humanitarian catastrophes caused by the use of weapons of mass destruction.
The perpetrators of use of chemical weapons must be brought to justice with their accomplices and associates, he stressed, adding that the memory of victims of chemical weapons must be honored constantly and the veterans suffering from chemical injuries must also be commemorated.
Located in Iran's northwestern province of West Azarbaijan, Sardasht was the third city in the world after Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki to become a target of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
On June 28 and 29, 1987, Iraqi bombers attacked 4 crowded parts of Sardasht with chemical bombs and engulfed its residents, women and children, young and old, with fatal chemical gases.
The attacks killed 116 citizens and injured over 5,000.