By The Daily Star

NEW YORK: Iran on Monday added its voice to warnings against Syria ever using chemical weapons in its increasingly large-scale war with anti-government insurgents.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in New York that Iran could not support any country -- including ally Syria -- that used such weapons, calling this "a situation that will end everything."

"If any country... uses weapons of mass destruction, that is the end of the validity, eligibility, legality, whatever you name it, of that government," he said at a talk given to the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

He was responding to a hypothetical question from the audience about Iran's reaction if fallout from chemical weapons drifted across the border in the event of the Syrian government there unleashing its chemical arsenal.

"Weapons of mass destruction, as we said it, is against humanity, something that is not acceptable," he said.

Iran suffered from Iraqi use of chemical weapons during the countries' 1980-1988 war and says it opposes all such weapons, although Western powers and Israel accuse Iran of trying to build a nuclear bomb.

The Syrian military has not used chemical weapons against the increasingly widespread rebellion. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the Syrian regime recently its chemical arms to help keep them safe.

 

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