Occupation nuclear arsenal biggest regional threat: Top Iranian official

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Israel’s arsenal of nuclear and chemical weapons is the “main threat” to the Middle East.

Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks during a Wednesday meeting with Head of UN Security Council Joint Investigative Mechanism on Chemical Weapon Use in Syria Virginia Gamba.

The Tel Aviv regime, which pursues a policy of so-called deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear bombs, is estimated to have 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal. The regime has refused to allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to Press TV.

Chemical weapons use in Syria

Referring to the use of chemical weapons by terrorist groups in Syria, Amir-Abdollahian stressed that “the international community has not done enough to address the matter.”

In response to Gamba’s call for cooperation, he said that Iran is willing to aid the joint investigative committee in identifying the culprits behind chemical attacks in the war-torn Arab country.

The deputy foreign minister stressed that Iran condemns the use of any kind of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons. 

On April 7, 23 people were killed and over 100 others injured in a chemical attack by Daesh terrorists against members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in a neighborhood of the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo. The incident occurred three days after reports that Daesh had fired a barrage of rockets carrying mustard gas at a Syrian military airport in the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr.

Last year, the UN mandated a probe dubbed the Joint Investigative Mechanism after evidence emerged that Takfiri militants had used chlorine gas in attacks on three Syrian villages in 2014 which claimed the lives of at least 13 people.

M.Wassouf