[A-List] US imperialism: Iran

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

US accuses Iran of stockpiling chemical arms

Dan De Luce in Tehran and Oliver Burkeman in Washington
Friday May 16, 2003
The Guardian

Iran, already accused by the Bush administration of hiding attempts to build
a nuclear bomb, faces fresh allegations about its chemical and biological
weapons programmes.

Washington is now accusing Tehran of stockpiling nerve agents and pursuing a
chemical weapons programme, while an Iranian resistance group yesterday
alleged that Iran has an aggressive bio-weapons effort under way.

"We are most troubled by the activities of Iran, which we believe continues
to seek chemicals, production technology, training, and expertise from
abroad," a US representative recently told the international chemical
weapons watchdog agency in the Hague.

Washington also accused Iran of stockpiling blister, blood and choking
agents and some nerve agents, US diplomat Stephen Rademaker said in a
statement obtained by the Guardian. The statement was read out to the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at a meeting in
the Hague last month.

Iran has vehemently denied the allegations, which are sure to have been
raised in recent talks between the two governments in Geneva.

An Iranian resistance group, the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation (MKO), made
more drastic accusations about Iran's biological programme, the Washington
Post reported yesterday.

Theorganisation, which is listed as a terrorist group by Washington but has
allies in the US Congress, alleged that Tehran had started producing
weaponised anthrax and was actively working with at least five other
pathogens, including smallpox, in a drive to build an arsenal of biological
weapons.

The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, told reporters he had not read
the allegations. He said that he would have to "go back and refresh" himself
on "the latest assessments" before responding to any claims on Iran's
chemical and biological weapons capabilities.

Kenneth Katzman, an expert on Iran and terrorism at the Congressional
Research Service in Washington, told the Guardian: "The US government
intelligence assessments do say there is an assumption that they have an
ability to weaponise basic biological agents like anthrax.

"But I see [the MKO report] as going further in saying that Iran is actively
making a stockpile of these weapons."

Analysts say hardline elements of the Iranian leadership may see nuclear or
other weapons programmes as a possible deterrent against increasing pressure
from the US, which now has troops and bases in countries surrounding Iran
from every direction.