Chemical weapons

Iran behind anti-WMD rider in chemical watchdog's decision on Syria - Lavrov

A small but far reaching clause in the chemical watchdog’s decision on Syria that urges all non-signatories of the Chemical Weapons Convention to join the treaty was actually proposed by Iran – and supported by the US – Russian FM Sergey Lavrov revealed.

RT,

30 September, 2013

Recalling the tense round of negotiations surrounding the issue of Syria’s chemical weapons, the Russian foreign minister said that it was Iran that “offered a very sound addition.” The insider revelation into the diplomatic process of avoiding yet another armed conflict in the Middle East was shared by Sergey Lavrov in an interview with Kommersant daily.   

The Iranian proposal reflects Russia’s long standing belief that the Middle East should be free of weapons of mass destruction. The clause, submitted by Tehran was included in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) decision on Friday ahead of the UNSC vote on a new Syrian resolution.   

“It is very important that in the Hague, when there was a vote on the decision on the role of the OPCW in implementing the program of chemical weapons destruction in Syria, a special clause was inserted urging all countries which have not yet done so to sign the convention,” Lavrov said.   

“I will reveal a little secret: this clause was introduced by Iran and supported by the United States. Iran in the past century, has twice suffered from chemical weapons. I think Iran offered a very sound addition,” the Russian foreign minister said.

Lavrov added that back in Geneva, it was Russia which suggested that such a clause be included in the draft resolution submitted to the UN Security Council with the aim of establishing within the Middle East a zone free from all weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

Now Moscow has embarked on a special mission to make the world a chemical weapons free zone. After meeting with US President Barack Obama during the G20 summit in St. Petersburg earlier this month, Russian Presidet Vladimir Putin expressed his desire to see all the chemical weapons in the world destroyed, the Russian Foreign Minister revealed.

“This key task – to do everything possible in order to neutralize, deliver to international control and then destroy chemical stockpiles that still exist in the world – was set by president [Putin] after his conversation with Barack Obama,” Lavrov told Kommersant.

In the meantime, Russia will urge the Syrian government to prevent the disruption of the plan's implementation for the destruction of chemical weapons.  The West, Lavrov said, should send a similar signal to the opposition on the ground. 

“There are terrorist groups who do not obey anyone except Al-Qaeda,” Lavrov said Sunday. “But the oppositionists,  who are subjected to the influence of outside players, should be educable. They should be sent a signal, so that they  would not dare to undermine the process.”

Russia in turn will do everything to play a role in destroying the Syrian chemical weapons.

“We are ready to participate in all components of the forthcoming operation – in inspection activities and the administrative structures that can be set up to coordinate activities between the UN and the OPCW on the ground, as well as in structures that [we] will likely have to create in order to provide security and support for the Syrian law enforcement.”

With the new revelation about Tehran’s role in the Syrian disarmament process, Iran's intent to de-militarize the Middle East seems even more serious.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s speech at the UN General Assembly was focused at promoting peace efforts in the Middle East.

Besides indicating his country’s full readiness to immediately engage in result-oriented talks over its nuclear program, he also urged Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and called for a world disarmament conference to establish a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.

“Threatening non-nuclear states with nuclear weapons should end. The modernization of these weapons undercuts efforts for their total abolition,” Iranian president stressed.  

Compared to his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the recently-elected Iranian leader significantly softened his tone on the country’s controversial nuclear program by agreeing to make it more transparent. Iran is expected to present its own plan at the P5+1 nuclear talks in Geneva next month.

Moreover, breaking over three decades of silence between the two nations, on Friday, Rouhani had a 15-minute phone talk with President Obama during which the leaders reached a common understanding that the nuclear issue could indeed be resolved.

The conversation between Roahani and Obama, as well as Tehran’s call to create a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East was not welcomed by Tel-Aviv.  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is headed to the US to meet with Barack Obama on Monday to discuss the “truth” behind Iran’s recent diplomatic gains. Israel, which is estimated to have at least 80 nuclear warheads, thinks that Tehran is fooling the Western powers to continue advancing towards a nuclear weapons capability.    

“I intend to tell the truth in the face of the sweet talk and charm offensive of Iran,” Netanyahu said. “Telling the truth at this time is essential for world peace and security and, of course, for Israel's security.”

But it seems that Israel will have a hard time convincing the US administration. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has welcomed the new positive tone from Iran after meeting one-on-one with his Iranian counterpart on Thursday, said in his latest interview  that a nuclear deal with Iran could be reached in months. 

“We need to have a good deal here. And a good deal means that it is absolutely accountable, failsafe in its measures to make certain this is a peaceful program,” Kerry told CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday.   

“If it is a peaceful program, and we can all see that - the whole world sees that - the relationship with Iran can change dramatically for the better and it can change fast.”

UN inspectors prepare to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons cache

At times team will have to wear protective suits and armour in 35C heat during most hazardous disarmament mission ever

The Guardian,

29 September, 2013

A 20-strong international team of engineers, chemists and paramedics leave the Netherlands for Syria on Monday to embark on the most hazardous mission in the history of disarmament: to dismantle one of the world's biggest chemical weapons arsenals, during a civil war, under extreme deadline pressure.

In 35C heat inspectors from the international Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will, at times, wear body armour and helmets over their chemical protection suits, sometimes carrying air tanks on their backs, in their efforts to abide by a UN security council resolution to destroy about 1,000 tonnes of nerve agents such as sarin and other poisonous gases such as sulphur mustard.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad vowed to co-operate with the mission in an interview with Italy's RAI News 24 TV. "Of course we have to comply [with the UN resolution]. This is our history to comply with every treaty we sign," he said.

The inspectors are due to arrive in Damascus on Tuesday. They will need to work quickly to meet the tight deadlines agreed by the security council on Friday.

In the first few days, a group of 20 inspectors drawn from about a dozen countries will have to fill the gaps in Syria's initial disclosure of its inventory of poison gases, nerve agents, delivery systems and production sites and fine tune the logistics for visiting the declared sites.

At that point, some of the documentation and political liaison specialists in the team will leave, and other experts will arrive, including chemical engineers, analytical chemists and medical specialists in case of accidental contamination. Within days the reinforced contingent will be split into field teams that will fan out to the declared weapons sites and laboratories. The inspectors will not say how many locations are involved as the Syrian declaration was confidential, but it is believed there are about 25 on the list.

Their first priority will be the locations where the weapons are produced. Under the UN resolution, all chemical production and mixing plants, as well as equipment used for filling rockets and shells with nerve agents or sulphur mustard gas, must be destroyed by 1 November, so as to crush the heart of the programme as quickly as possible. But to get the job done in time, the Syrians – with international oversight – will have to use some rough and ready methods.

"We could fill reactors with concrete, perhaps, or they could smash them up if they're particularly delicate – if they're glass-lined reactors for example. Or equipment can be destroyed with explosives or by having a tank drive over it," said one senior OPCW official involved in the planning of the operation.

The official stressed that everything would be done in partnership with Syrian technicians: "We'll identify, in conjunction with our Syrian colleagues, critical pieces of equipment and then invite them to destroy them," he said. "The whole process will be conducted in a collaborative manner. It's not as if we turn up and point at something and say: blow that up; drive that over that equipment; fill that with concrete."

He said that the Syrian government had co-operated so far: the organisation submitted its initial list of inspectors to Damascus on Friday and got approval the next day, with no objections to any team members on the basis of nationality.

"We have already seen from dealings with them there is a willingness and an engagement to do this," the official said. "They have made a strategic decision."

The provisional plan is to concentrate the Syrian arsenal in a couple of major sites where mobile chemical neutralisation plants and incinerators can be used to destroy it. Russian and US intelligence analysts have said that much of the stockpile is in the form of precursor chemicals, or chemical ingredients, which are easier and quicker to destroy than pre-mixed and weaponised chemical weapons.

The deadline for destroying the whole arsenal has been set at mid-2014. Whether or not this is feasible or not will depend on the ebb and flow of the war, analysts say.

The Syrian government has reportedly consolidated its chemical weapons in roughly two dozen sites to stop them falling into the hands of rebels, but some of those sites are close to the frontlines.

"The Syrian disclosure has identified a number of locations," the official said. "Some are in areas completely controlled by the Syrian government. Others are in areas that are close to confrontation lines, but some may require us having to drive through opposition territory."

To cross the lines, inspectors will rely on UN officials based in Syria who have contacts with most parties in the conflict to negotiate safe passage. The same approach was taken when inspectors investigated the large-scale attack in eastern Damascus in August, which triggered a threat of US-led air strikes and ultimately the Assad regime's agreement to disarm.

The method was far from fail-safe. A UN vehicle came under sniper fire as it crossed the lines, but there are no plans at present to bring in foreign troops to protect the inspectors. That would be a decision for the UN, which is playing a facilitating role for the mission.

Some of the members of the initial inspection team are ex-military munitions experts who have had experience of combat zones, but the fighting across shifting frontlines adds an extra layer of danger to an already hazardous task, and another physical burden.

"We will have protective suits and hand-held monitors for self-protection," the senior inspector said, adding: "Doing that kind of activity while wearing body armour and helmets is not ideal. It is really at the top end of the scale of physical burden and stress and contamination control. Wearing protective suits and body armour is physiologically pretty hard."

The risks of being in or near the front line of a civil war, in 35C heat, while trying to secure toxic chemicals, will give the team no shortage of dilemmas: "At that point, we start to look into what's more hazardous: the guys going down with heat exhaustion, the guys being exposed to toxic agents or the guys being shot at," the official concluded.