Iran questions credibility of OPCW’s Syria report

Iran’s UN mission questions the credibility of a report issued by the world chemical watchdog that accuses Syria of an alleged 2018 chemical attack against the Arab country’s own people.

The report was issued by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)’s so-called Investigation and Identification Team late last month. It alleged that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that at least one Syrian air force helicopter had dropped two cylinders of toxic gas on the town of Douma near the Syrian capital during the so-called incident.

Damascus has strongly denounced and rejected the allegations as completely lacking in all scientific and objective evidentiary basis.

During a UN Security Council session on Tuesday, Amir Saeed Iravani, Iran’s permanent ambassador to the UN condemned the report, saying  that this report, as the previous ones that had been issued by the OPCW about the alleged incident, is “based on unauthorized sources, lacks the necessary legal conclusion, and [has been prepared] irrespective of the Syrian government’s observations”.

Iravani said the Western countries had manipulated the OPCW and its subsidiary mechanisms into compiling the report against Syria, so they can advance their political goals concerning the Arab country.

He said the Western states were staging a “premeditated scenario” against Syria.

“The Islamic Republic is deeply concerned about the exploitation and politicization of the OPCW,” Iravani noted, saying manipulation of the organization in such a way undermined its credibility.

Hamda Mustafa