Iran urges prompt implementation of CWC

August 9, 2009 - 0:0

TEHRAN (FNA) - A senior Iranian official on Saturday called on the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) member states to push all other countries, specially the U.S., to implement the convention promptly.

""The member states are tasked with a serious pursuit of the (convention's) goal to eliminate the existing chemical weapons,"" Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.
""They (member states) should persistently ask possessors of such weapons, specially the U.S., to mobilize and employ all their capabilities to implement the international undertaking (CWC) in due time,"" Hosseini reiterated.
The Iranian official also expressed regret over the present trend of the destruction of chemical weapons, and blasted U.S. reluctance to fulfill its undertakings regarding the convention.
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. Its full name is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.
The current agreement is administered by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is an independent organization.
The Chemical Weapons Convention requires the United States to finish off its arsenal of banned warfare materials and munitions by April 2012. The Congress has demanded that operations be completed by the end of 2017.
Hosseini further reminded the Zionist regime of Israel's stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), and described the regime as ""the most significant source of threat to peace and security in the region and the world"".
He called on the international community to pay special attention to the threats against regional and international peace and security posed by the regime's non- commitment to international rules and obligations.
Elsewhere, the official underlined that Iran's cooperative attitude towards the issue shows its good intention regarding dismantlement and destruction of all WMDs, chemical weapons in particular.