Mehr News Agency – Iranian Minister of Defense (MoD) Brigadier General Amir Hatami said on Friday that the Western countries, with their false claims on defending human rights, must be held accountable for their arms assistance in the killing of innocent people in Yemen.
His remark was on the occasion of the National Day of Combating Microbial and Chemical Weapons on June 29.
“This day reminds us of one of the other aspects of the crimes committed by the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in using chemical weapons against our soldiers and defenseless people in border cities and villages during the eight years of Sacred Defense (1980-1988),” he added.
He then noted the West’s attempt to deny its role in arming Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons and to downplay the enormity of the crime, adding, “these countries acknowledged that more than 20,000 Iranian soldiers and civilians were martyred by Saddam’s chemical weapons.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Brigadier General Hatami pointed to the West’s admission that as many as 30 chemical attacks were carried out by Saddam Hussein on Iran’s civilian centers such as hospitals and healthcare services, adding “the chemical bombing of Iran’s Sardasht was the culmination of these heinous crimes committed by the then Iraqi government on June 28, 1987 which martyred and injured 4,500 people.”
The Iranian minister of defense said that the key role of some Western countries, including the United States, in equipping Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons is now clear to the international community and global public opinions.
The continuation of the killing of innocent people of region, especially the oppressed people of Yemen, with Western weapons is another evidence of criminal acts committed by these governments which will go down in the history, Brigadier General Hatami stated.
