Iran calls on the international community to pressure the US and Israel into fulfilling their commitments to chemical weapons disarmament.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is a main victim of chemical warfare as Iraq attacked the country for eight years using weapons of mass destruction. Iran expects the international community to bring war criminals to justice and force major powers, including the US and the occupying regime of al-Quds, to take practical steps in fulfilling their international obligations, particularly concerning chemical disarmament," reads a statement released Friday by Iran's Foreign Ministry.

It is obvious that the then-government of the US as well as certain European countries had given the green light to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in using chemical weapons against Iranian civilians and military personnel, the report adds.

"The so-called civilized world has not been punished for their crimes against humanity… They (the US and some European supporters of Saddam) impeded efforts to put Saddam on trial for such crimes as they feared falling into disrepute."

Iraq launched surprise aerial attacks against Iran on September 23, 1980 in the hope of gaining air supremacy and inflicting a quick defeat on Tehran.

Over 300 chemical weapon attacks were carried out against Iran in the course of the eight-year war. Civilians were targeted with over 3,000 tons of chemical weapons, a large number of whom were killed and maimed.

Iran released the statement in commemoration of the National Day Against Chemical/Biological Weapons as tribute to the victims of Saddam's atrocities. Among the most devastating attacks on Iran was the strike on the western city of Sardashat and adjacent villages in 1987.

"The disaster wrought on Sardasht was, in fact, a repeat of Ypres, Hiroshima and Nagasaki," the statement says.

The use of chemical weapons dates back to ancient Greece, but the first large-scale attack was launched in 1915 when German forces released chlorine gas and killed thousands of allied troops near Ypres in Belgium.

The United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945.

MK/AA