|
Geneva: Iran probably has germ warfare weapons, North Korea may have developed them and Syria could have carried out research into such banned weaponry, the United States told an arms control conference.
Addressing the opening session of the sixth review conference of the Convention on Biological Weapons (BWC), US delegation head John C. Rood said those countries were of particular concern given their "support for terrorism".
"We believe that Iran probably has an offensive biological weapons programme in violation of the BWC," Rood said. "We also believe North Korea has a biological weapons capability and may have developed, produced and weaponised for use.
"Finally, we remain seriously concerned that Syria ... has conducted research and development for an offensive biological weapons programme," he said.
IAEA meeting
EU opposes atomic assistance for Tehran
The European Union urged a politically charged meeting of the UN nuclear agency yesterday to deny Iran's request for help with a facility that could yield plutonium for atom bombs.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation governing board has repeatedly asked Iran not to pursue the Arak heavy water reactor project.
Tehran has vowed to complete it and applied for IAEA expertise to ensure it meets safety standards. "We cannot support providing technical assistance to a heavy water research reactor project that ... would in future produce significant quantities of plutonium and involve a significant [nuclear] proliferation risk," Finnish envoy Kirsti Helena Kauppi, speaking on behalf of the EU, told the IAEA board.
|
