Iran’s Permanent Representative to Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ali Reza Jahangiri, addressed the 89th session of the OPCW Executive Council, criticizng the adoption of a French-proposed attribution mechansim by the OPCW that would assign blame for chemical attacks, saying the mechanism was outside the duties of the world’s chemical weapons watchdog.
He further regarded as “without justification” the allocation of any amount of budget for implementation of this “non-consensus and controversial” decision, as well as the establishment of a new office for assigning blame.
Prior to the adoption of the attribution mechanism, the OPCW only determined whether chemical attacks have taken place, not who carried them out.
“Regrettably, some OPCW Member States have diverged from making consensus decisions even on critical issues, and seek to divert the Organization from its technical nature,” said Jahangiri.
The Iranian envoy then welcomed the progress made in destruction of chemical weapons in Syria thanks to Syrian government’s cooperation with the OPCW, and stressed the need for refraining from politicizing Syria’s case and spreading false propaganda against Syria’s constructive cooperation with the Organization.
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