TEHRAN -- Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran, as the greatest victim of chemical weapons in contemporary history, is a staunch advocate of a world free of weapons of mass destruction.
Araghchi made the remark in a message on Sunday on the occasion of the National Day of Combat against Chemical and Biological Weapons. 
The occasion commemorates the 38th anniversary of the chemical attack on the northwestern Iranian city of Sardasht by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
As the principal initiator of the initiative for a region free of nuclear weapons, Iran has consistently stood at the forefront of the struggle against such weapons, he said.
Iran, he said, has never ceased its pursuit of justice for the victims of chemical warfare and firmly believes that the implementation of justice is a “necessary prerequisite” for preventing the recurrence of atrocities such as the chemical bombardment of Sardasht.
The minister hoped that through collective determination and effort, the day will come when no human being shall fall victim to weapons of mass destruction, and that peace and amity shall replace war and violence.
On June 28, 1987, the Saddam regime dropped mustard gas bombs on Sardasht, killing at least 119 Iranian civilians and injuring another 8,000, leaving some of them permanently disabled.
Western countries- including Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, France, and the United States- contributed to the Iraqi regime’s chemical weapons program at the time.
Araghchi said credible evidence and substantiated documentation confirm that certain Western countries, particularly the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, have provided Saddam’s regime with chemical substances, technologies, and the necessary equipment, enabling it to employ chemical weapons against the Iranian people.
He said the West’s support, along with the repugnant silence of the international community, emboldened the Saddam regime to persist in its atrocities and further violate international law with impunity.
The world has been witnessing in recent days the assassination of Iranian women and children, ordinary civilians, university professors, nuclear scientists, and senior military and civilian officials “at the hands of some of the most cunning and malevolent terrorists” of the era who are based in Tel Aviv, Araghchi said.
“Those same Western countries have aligned themselves with the aggressor, offering de facto support for its acts of aggression and its violations of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.” 
The minister warned that Israel’s attacks on Iran’s critical infrastructure, including facilities involved in the production of industrial chemical materials, pose the risk of a grave humanitarian and environmental catastrophe.
Iran, he said, has formally called for 
the convening of an emergency session of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in order to examine and condemn such inhumane attacks.
Araghchi also paid tribute to the fortitude, perseverance, solidarity, unity, and resilience of the proud Iranian nation in confronting the recent aggression by the Zionist regime and the United States.