Iran to OPCW: “It is appalling that such a massive use of chemical agents in Gaza by Zionist regime is unraveling before our eyes”

Iran Urges OPCW to Investigate Israel’s Use of Chemical Weapons

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran wants the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate Israeli use of Chemical Weapons in Gaza.

“It is appalling that such a massive use of chemical agents in Gaza by Zionist regime is unraveling before our eyes despite the existence of the Organization for prohibition of Chemical Weapons whose raison d’etre is to exclude completely the possibility of use of chemical weapons,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a letter to the OPCW Director General on Saturday. “Therefore, the international community highly expects that the OPWC as the sole component Organization acts in accordance with its mandate to exclude the possibility of the use of such barbaric weapons and shows its responsibility for initiating an investigation into the victims of these attacks,” he stated. “It is also of importance that the distinguished Director General and the OPWC act consistently with their previous practice to condemn the illegal and inhuman actions of the Zionist regime in Gaza in the hope of placating the suffering of the defenseless Palestinian people and soothe the wounds of the victims of the recent atrocities,” Mottaki stressed. “Such an abhorrent act of deployment of toxic chemicals by Zionist regime’s troops in Gaza is against international instruments prohibiting the use of warfare including in particular the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, poisonous or other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare as well as the Chemical Weapons Convention,” he continued. Since Israel attacked Gaza on December 27, a number of 1200 Palestinian have been killed while 5300 have been wounded. Zionist regime has used phosphorous bombs by its air attacks to pound the densely-populated Gaza Strip whereas the 1925 protocol of Geneva Convention bans using asphyxiating and poisonous materials particularly against civilians. Components of white phosphorus will burn through flesh to the bone and if released in the wound they will be poisonous. Breathing the white phosphorus smoke will harm liver, kidney, heart, lung and bone and result in a very painful death.

Iran criticizes Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for silence on Israel’s use of banned weapons

News Code: 307779 GMT: 1/17/2009 3:44:43 PM Mottaki criticizes OPCW’s silence in face of Gaza crimes Tehran, Jan 17, IRNA — Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki sent a letter on Saturday to Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Rogelio Pfirter to condemn the extensive use of chemical weapons in Gaza.

It is terrifying that the Zionist regime is making use of such weapons openly and even with the knowledge of OPCW which was created to deal with such inhuman acts, he said.

According to the Information and Press Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the letter reads: “We are now witnessing one of the most heinous crimes in the contemporary era which has claimed lives of over one thousand defenseless civilians in Gaza.

It is extremely regrettable that the human community should be witness to such miserable happenings, said the foreign minister in the letter.

The Zionists forces have made extensive use of prohibited poisonous and white phosphorous which are very harmful and destructive for human beings, he said.

These anti-human crimes are regarded as blatant violation of international rights mainly human rights which proves that the Zionist regime never respect the norms and principles of international laws, said Mottaki in his letter.

The savage atrocities of the Zionists in the use of prohibited chemical weapons are in violation of protocol 1925 of Geneva Convention, he said.

As signatories to Geneva Convention, the Zionist regime has been barred from making use of such weapons; he said adding that the regime proved that it is not committed to its international pledges. Their acts basically run counter to Geneva Convention 1949 on safeguarding the rights of others in armed conflicts.

The global community expects that the OPCW to react and fulfill its duties effectively, he said.

It is also expected that the OPCW and its director general to strongly condemn the inhuman atrocities of the Zionists in Gaza to help relieve the sufferings of victimized Palestinian people, said the minister in the letter.

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EndNews / IRNA / News Code 307779