June 28 is the national day to commemorate Sardasht chemical bombings. When Iraqi war planes targeted the city of Sardasht in West Azarbaijan Province with chemical weapons in 1987, over 100 citizens of the city were martyred and more than two thousand of the people were wounded by deadly chemical attacks.
In his message, Zarif said the disabled Iranian war veterans (Janbazan) were victimized two times by anti-human policies of the West; first, when Western governments did give chemical weapons and technology to use such weapons to the then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein; and second, when they put obstacle to dispatch medicine and medical equipment to Iran to relieve the Janbazan's pain during tenure of former US President Donald Trump.
Further, Zarif condemned silence the Western states kept on those anti-human policies.
World owes the peace-loving Iranian nation, particularly those in Sardasht, Oshnaviyeh, and other Iranian cities as well as the oppressed people in Halabja in the Iraqi Kurdistan region who cried out under the Saddam chemical bombings, Zarif wrote.
As the foreign minister noted, weapons of mass destruction and sanctions are the same as they follow common goals.
The current situation worldwide warns all against global crises, and also tells everyone that international cooperation is needed for tackling the crises, Zarif added.
All unilateral measures are doomed to failure, he stressed.
Today, even after three decades since the Sardasht chemical attacks, people in the city are still suffering from blisters and coughs caused by the smell of mustard gas, he said, adding that people in Sardasht are still aching from respiratory problems.
Governments, which are members of Chemical Weapons Convention, are expected to follow Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and be faithful to their commitments under the Convention, Zarif concluded.
Sardasht with population of 120,000 is located in south of northwestern Iranian province of West Azarbaijan. The city has 100 km of joint border crossings with Iraq. Sardasht was attacked by chemical weapons a year before the end of Iraqi invasion of Iran (1980-88).
The eight-year imposed war claimed lives of 230,000 Iranian soldiers and left near 600,000 war-disabled. While, about 43,000 Iranians were captivated by the Iraqi forces and many others gone missing.
Zarif: Iran seeks regional peace and stability
