Iran to Offer Chemical Weapon Treatment Courses

A senior Iranian diplomat said his nation is ready to offer international medical training for treating victims of chemical weapons.

The semi-official news agency ISNA reported Tuesday that Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Ali Hosseini has asked the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for help setting up the courses.

The agency reported that during a meeting with the PCOW's director, Hosseini asked for an investigation into how former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein received chemical weapons, which Iran says were used against thousands of Iranians during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's.

There was no immediate response from the PCOW.

The report coincided with the conviction of the perpetrator of a chemical attack against Iraqi Kurds for another crime against humanity. An Iraqi court sentenced to death Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam known as Chemical Ali, for his crackdown against Shi'ites in 1991. He has already been given the death penalty for the fatal gassing of thousands of Kurds in the 1980s.