Iran Warns Syria Against Use Of Chemical Weapons

Iran warned Monday its Syrian ally that the possible use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would lead to the latter’s loss of all legitimacy. In response to a question about the possible use of chemical weapons by Damascus, the Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that “if this hypothesis were true (..), it would be the end of everything. ”

“If any country, including Iran, uses weapons of mass destruction, this is the end of the legitimacy of this government,” he said.

Salehi, who attended a debate organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. research center, said: “The weapons of mass destruction, we said, are against humanity, it is a something which is not acceptable at all.”

Iranian forces have suffered poison gas attacks by Iraqi troops during the war between the two countries (1980-1988), noted Salehi.

Several Western officials have warned Damascus against the temptation of using its chemical arsenal against the rebels or the risks of it falling into the hands of extremist groups.

Damascus confirmed for the first time in late July it possess chemical weapons and threatened to use them in case of Western military intervention, but never against its population. Washington then called this scenario a “red line.”