DHAKA: Iran Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that the use of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, by any individual, group, or government is condemned and forbidden.

He also denied the comments attributed to him accusing the Syrian government of using sarin nerve gas against its people.

Unfortunately, Rafsanjani said, the Syrian people have been suffering from a civil war and its consequent pains and homelessness over the past two years and now they are facing threats of military attack by foreigners for alleged use of chemical weapons, an accusation that has not been proven yet.

The arrogant world powers are making efforts to dominate Muslims including the Muslim nations of the region and have threatened to launch military attack on Syria, the former president said, Tehran Times prints this report on Sunday.

Rafsanjani also said certain Western countries provided materials to the Saddam Hussein regime to build chemical weapons to use against Iran during the war in the 1980s, but the Islamic Republic never retaliated in the same way though it had the ability to do so.

BDST: 1439 HRS, SEPT 08, 2013
RoR/BSK