Moment of Clarity – Irans calls for “across the board” Chemical Weapons elimination

Tuesday Sep 17, 201303:48 PM GMT
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Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey must turn in chemical arms: Iran MP
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov address a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, September 12, 2013, after agreeing on a deal on Syrian chemical weapons.
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov address a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, September 12, 2013, after agreeing on a deal on Syrian chemical weapons.
Tue Sep 17, 2013 5:10AM GMT
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Following three days of intense talks in Geneva, Switzerland, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed on the details of a plan that would identify and purge Syrian chemical weapons.”
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An Iranian lawmaker says the Israeli regime, Saudi Arabia and Turkey must also turn over their chemical weapons, as Syria has agreed to, if a US-Russia deal on Syrian chemical arms is to be implemented.

Spokesman for Iran’s Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Hossein Naqavi Hosseini made the remark on Monday, adding that the US demand from the Syrian government to hand over its chemical arms while also intending to take military action against the Middle Eastern country is illogical and contrary to international norms.

US President Barack Obama had said in 2012 that Washington’s “red line” on Syria would be the use of chemical weapons or their transfer to other parties.

One year later, on August 21, the militants operating inside Syria and its foreign-backed opposition claimed that the Syrian government had carried out a chemical attack on suburban Damascus, killing over a thousand people.

Damascus categorically rejected the accusation.

Nevertheless, the unsubstantiated claim prompted the US to start repositioning military assets in the Mediterranean Sea near Syria. Repeated threats were also issued by the US against the crisis-hit country, alarming the world that a new US war could be just around the corner.

However, events seemed to take a different course when Syria nodded to a Russian proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control.

Later, following three days of intense talks in Geneva, Switzerland, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed on the details of a plan that would identify and purge Syrian chemical weapons. Syria had earlier announced its readiness to join the international convention that bans chemical weapons.

Naqavi Hosseini called for a US pledge of not attacking Syria, describing such a guarantee as key to the implementation of the plan for the Syrian chemical weapons to be put under international supervision.

This plan should not be implemented unless the US guarantees that it will not engage in an attack against the people and government of Syria, Naqavi Hosseini said.

The United States will experience a worse situation than what it went through in Vietnam in case it does engage in a military offensive against Syria, he added.

Syria’s Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Ja’afari said on September 12 that the “main danger of WMD is the Israeli nuclear arsenal.”

The Tel Aviv regime also possesses chemical weapons but “nobody is speaking about that,” the Syrian envoy added.

Ja’afari said Syria’s chemical weapons served as “a mere deterrence against the Israeli nuclear arsenal” and other WMDs, referring to a declassified CIA report on Israel’s chemical weapons program.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also said that the Syrian chemical arms were intended for deterrence purposes against Israeli nukes.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since 2011.