(PresidentialHill.com)- The US must take into account the possible extent of the Iranian regime’s
asymmetrical warfare activities as it creeps towards nuclear weapon capability.
While it is unclear to what extent Iran has access to WMD and the means to deliver them, the regime’s pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities has increased.
Despite the Islamic Republic’s denials, reports observing the entry of dual-use materials into Tehran lend credence to the idea that the regime may be working on a chemical weapons program.
Reports show that during the 8-year Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, Iranian soldiers suffered significantly due to Iraq’s deployment of chemical weapons. The Ba’athist President Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi military claimed that Iran used the strategy first to justify their use of chemical weapons.
Around 100,000 Iranians died due to Iraq’s deployment of toxic agents, and citizens sustained injuries and long-term health issues.
According to a 1987 U.N. assessment, Mustard gas and a pulmonary element, perhaps phosgene, have afflicted Iraqi soldiers. It was impossible to say how the injuries were caused because there was no solid proof of the weapons used. In a declassified study, the Defense Intelligence Agency stated that Iran deployed chemical weapons in the latter stages of the war but not as extensively or effectively as Iraq.
Iran pledged never to create, produce, or possess chemical weapons when it joined the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1993. Iran asserts that it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile before the deal was signed, but it has not been verified. According to testimony given before Congress in 2020 by the director of the CIA, Iran’s chemical warfare program is still operating in the eyes of American scientists.
Due to an incomplete stockpile and facilities declaration, the U.S. accused Iran of breaking the CWC last year.
The Iran Nonproliferation Act, approved by the US in 2000, directed the government to impose sanctions on organizations known to be giving Iran’s WMD programs tangible support. The United States has sanctioned multiple foreign corporations. Among the businesses suspected to be aiding Iran’s chemical imports are the Chinese companies Zibo Chemet Equipment Company and the Nanjing Chemical Industries group.
Iran claims that its nuclear goals are merely economic and scientific, but its track record of evil deeds suggests otherwise.
