Pezeshkian made the remarks in a post on X on Sunday., saying, “Those, who are enforcing sanctions on the people of Iran under hollow pretexts, are the same ones that used to provide chemical weapons to the country’s enemy.”
Pezeshkian passed the comments on the anniversary of the chemical bombardment of Zardeh Village in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah by invading Iraqi forces in July 1988.
At least 275 people were reportedly killed and some 1,146 others injured in the attack. The incident saw one of the bombs landing inside the village’s fountain, critically poisoning many of the locals.
The bombing took place during invasion of the country by neighboring Iraq, which was being led by former dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Iraqi military was being heavily armed by Western countries during the invasion that lasted from 1980 to 1988.
The weapon procurers included the United States, West Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France, which outfitted the military with chemical weapons among other types of deadly equipment.
An estimated 50,000 people died from the Iraqi forces’ ample deployment of the chemical arms against the Islamic Republic. Current estimates, though, put the number of the fatalities at more than 100,000, as the long-term effects continue to take their toll on those afflicted.
