Iran to Hold Germans Accountable Over Chemical Attacks

Date: 30 November 2024 - 22:06

News ID: ۱۳۴۲۰۰

TEHRAN -- Iran on Saturday pledged to uphold “truth and justice” for victims of chemical attacks during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) and hold German companies accountable for supplying chemical weapons to the former Iraqi regime. “Iran persists in its demand for ‘truth & justice’ regarding those #German companies and others that actively and knowingly contributed to Iraq’s #ChemicalWeapons program,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X, marking the International Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare. He paid tribute to Iranian soldiers and civilians

who were martyred or injured by deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s chemical attacks during the regime’s imposed war on Iran.

During the 1980-88 war, the Iraqi army continuously employed chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and civilians, leaving tens of thousands dead on the spot and many more suffering for years to come.

The former Iraqi regime used chemical weapons more than 500 times against Iranian forces and civilians in five border provinces.

In these inhumane attacks, a wide range of toxic chemical products, including mustard and nerve and choking agents, was used against Iranians, some of them used for the first time.

At least 10,000 Iranians were martyred and more than 107,000 civilians, including women and children, sustained injuries in these attacks.

In one of the most notorious attacks, the Saddam regime dropped mustard gas bombs on Sardasht, a small city in Iran’s West Azarbaijan Province on June 28, 1987. The attack killed at least 119 Iranian civilians and injured 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.

Victims continue to suffer to this day because of illegal Western sanctions targeting medical supplies and equipment to Iran.