Iran’s Sardasht 'symbol of victims of chemical weapons': FM

He made the remarks in the 30th Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in the Hague on Tuesday, stating that the Convention was established to prevent the horrors of the use of the chemical weapons.

“We, Iranians, feel the extreme pain and suffering inflicted on our soldiers and civilians by ex-Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein regime’s chemical attacks during his war of aggression on Iran. Our wounds are open after 4 decades; and we can see the horror of chemical weapons as our war heroes and veterans as well as their families continue to suffer from their extreme pain [they sustained during the Saddam regime's imposed war].”

“For us and for the entire world, Sardasht represents an iconic name in the global campaign for prohibition of chemical weapons and for justice for the victims,” he said, adding that Sardasht people were among many innocent Iranian civilians and combatants who were targeted by chemical weapons during the eight years of Sacred Defense (Iraqi imposed war against Iran in 1980-1988).

Araghchi arrived in The Hague early Tuesday to participate in the 30th Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention./mehr