Iranian UN Envoy Slams Use of OPCW on Syria for Political Ends

Amir Saeed Iravani blasted the Security Council for holding consecutive meetings to discuss Syria's chemical weapons while referencing the nation's full cooperation in this area.

Iravani said in a statement that by holding these meetings, the suspicion that they are a political reiteration of charges against Damascus is strengthened.

What follows is the text of his statement:

In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful.

Mr. President,

I would like to congratulate Ghana on taking the Council presidency in November. I also congratulate Gabon for successfully completing its presidency in the month of October.

Iran once again strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, and under any circumstances, as a flagrant violation of international law.

We underscore once more that any investigation into the use of chemical weapons must be impartial, professional, credible, and objective, and must fully comply with the Convention's requirements and procedures.

Equally crucial, the OPCW must be able to perform its duties in an impartial, professional, and objective manner in order to establish facts and develop evidence-based conclusions.

We reiterate our call that the Chemical Weapons Convention must be implemented fully, effectively, and without discrimination.

We believe that politicizing the Convention's application and exploiting the OPCW for political reasons endangers both the Organization's and the Convention's credibility.

Mr. President,

Syria voluntarily joined the Convention in 2013, and, dismantled its weapons arsenal as well as the facilities used to manufacture such weapons. While encouraging dialogue and consultations between parties, we believe that the collaboration of the Syrian Arab Republic with the OPCW should be recognized.

We further commend the Syrian Arab Republic for providing monthly reports to the OPCW Director-General, detailing activities on its territory related to the destruction of chemical weapons and their production facilities.

The high-level meeting between Syria's Foreign Minister and the Director-General of the OPCW, which we hope will take place, has the capacity to pave the way for the parties to resolve the outstanding issues.

The Syrian National Authority requested to the Technical Secretariat that the two parties convene a coordination meeting in Beirut to agree on the agenda for the high-level meeting, which the Technical Secretariat responded to on 3 October.

Mr. President,

The previous Council meeting on the Syrian chemical file was on October 25, and we now have another meeting today only after less than two weeks, during which no new development has happened; therefore, it is clear that there is no new point for today's discussion other than the repetition of claims against the Syrian Arab Republic.

We agree with this view that conducting monthly meetings on this subject is costly, not only in terms of UN resources but also in terms of security council time.

Moreover, while the Syrian Arab Republic has met the requirements of the Convention and continues to cooperate constructively with the OPCW, handling this file in a political and double-standard manner will only divert discussions away from their technical nature.

We support the discussion of this matter in its own technical track in the OPCW in order to foster positive dialogue between Syria and the OPCW and resolve the open issues.

I thank you