Iran asks U.N. to make gas inquiry

Press, 6 March 1984, Page 10

Iran asks U.N. to make gas inquiry

NZPA-Reuter Bahrain Iran has asked the United Nations to inspect what it called Iraq’s use of chemical weapons on civilian areas in the Gulf war, and said that more heavy fighting could.be expected in the oil-rich Majnun Islands in southern Iraq.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Dr Ali Akbar Vellayati, had sent a Note to the United Nations calling on it to send experts to study Iraqi use of chemical weapons on Iranian towns and cities, the Iranian national news agency, Ima, reported yesterday. . . The agency quoted Dr Vellayati as saying that Iran had repeatedly informed the United Nations of Iraqi use of chemical weapons but that the world body had failed to respond positively, “and in fact has been a source of encouragement for aggression.”

An Austrian doctor said at the week-end that 10 Iranian soldiers from the southern war front with Iraq who arrived in Vienna for treatment were probably poison-gas victims. He said that international consultants were being sought to check the diagnosis. Iraq denies using chemical weapons in the 41-month-old Gulf war. In London a Foreign Office spokesman denied an Iranian accusa-

tion over the week-end that Britain was sending Iraq chemical weapons. He said that Britain was neutral in the war. Teheran radio had also accused Britain of providing billions of dollars worth of planes, tanks, and weapons to Iraq since the war began. Iran also appeared to expect new fighting. Irna quoted the Parliamentary Speaker, Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, as saying that Iraq would do .its best to retake the 'oil-rich Majnun Islands in Iraq’s south-eastern marshlands soon.

He told a news conference in Teheran that heavy fighting would break out in this area, which would probably turn into a graveyard of Iraqi forces. He said that the world’s military experts had not yet realised the real strategic value of the islands, which were about skm away from the most important Iraqi supply routes and within firing range of the most trusted Iraqi forces. He quoted unnamed Arab officials as saying that the capture of the islands would cover the JUSISO billion in reparations Iran to cover damage caused by the first two years of the war. Diplomatic sources say that the islands are estimated to contain several bil-

lion barrels in oil reserves.

An Italian airline pilot gave a warning yesterday that because of flight path changes owing to the Gulf war, flights to Teheran could easily stray into Soviet airspace, with the danger of a repetition of the Soviets’ downing in September of a passenger jet.

Captain Benito Niolu, of the national carrier, Alitalia, said that at one point the flight path was only 22km from the border and the slightest error, or bad weather, could cause planes to stray into Soviet territory. In addition, he said, civilian planes were regularly intercepted by Iranian fighters.

Iranian air traffic controllers wanted to be informed 10 minutes before any plane entered Iranian airspace, but for technical reasons in 90 per cent of cases it was impossible to reach the control tower at Tabriz until the plane was well inside Iranian airspace, he said.

Because Iran was at war and its Air Force on permanent alert, any suspect planes were likely to be intercepted.

About 1600 Italians live in Iran, and Alitalia sends a weekly Wednesday flight to Teheran.