IRNA – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi described the first report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) probe team on using chemical weapons in Syria as "biased, unilateral, dependent and out of its competence and authority".

Speaking to IRNA on Monday, Mousavi said that Iran as the biggest victim of chemical weapons in the contemporary era condemns using chemical weapons by anybody under any condition anywhere.

The tenor of the OPCW report on Syria, its reasoning and conclusion indicate that the report has been prepared under external pressures and its resources have taken advantage of terrorist groups and the so-called humanitarian organizations namely White Helmets, he added.

He noted that Iran is deeply concerned about tarnishing independence and the legal position of the OPCW as an expert organization with technical nature.

Accordingly, based on legitimate technical, legal and political reasons, Iran has always been against mechanism of creating probe team and considered it as beyond provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention and in contradiction with UN Security Council’s exclusive responsibilities with regard to maintaining international peace and security.

Appreciating Syrian government’s constructive cooperation with OPCW, Mousavi stressed that it is time to manage Syrian chemical case far from politicization, political pressures and fabricated and factional mechanisms.