Iran's ambassador to the Netherlands Kazem Gharibabadi has announced that the legal proceedings against the companies and governments which facilitated the chemical weapons program of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war are in process in international courts, MNA reported.
"Legal proceedings against those (companies and governments) which armed Iraq with chemical weapons against Iran during the imposed war are underway," Ambassador Kazem Gharibabadi, who also holds an executive post at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), told the Fars news agency in an interview published on Tuesday.
The OPCW is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and has the mandate to ensure the implementation of its provisions, including those for international verification of compliance with it.
The Iranian diplomat also said that Iran, as a victim of chemical weapons, is actively campaigning for the total abolition of chemical weapons throughout the world.
He also added that April 29, 2012 has been set as the final deadline for the total eradication of all chemical weapons, so it is a test for the United States and Russia, which are the countries that have the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons, to show their commitment to international conventions.