Iran may have supplied Qaddafi’s regime with chemical weapons: report

Revolutionary fighters have uncovered the shells, which were filled with highly toxic mustard agent, at two sites in central Libya in recent weeks. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya

Dubai

The Obama administration is probing whether Iran supplied the Libyan government of slain leader Muammar Qaddafi with hundreds of special artillery shells for chemical weapons that Libya kept secret for decades, the Washington Post reported on Monday citing U.S. officials.

Revolutionary fighters have uncovered the shells, which were filled with highly toxic mustard agent, at two sites in central Libya in recent weeks. Both sites are currently placed under heavy guard and round-the-clock surveillance by drones, U.S. and Libyan officials told the Post.

The main aim of the U.S. probe is to figure out how the Libyans obtained the shells. “We are pretty sure we know the shells were custom-designed and produced in Iran especially for Libya,” a senior U.S. official was quoted as saying.

The Post quoted another U.S. official with access to classified information as confirming that there were “serious concerns” that Iran had provided the shells, albeit some years ago.

The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency last week passed a resolution condemning Iran’s nuclear activities following a recent IAEA report strongly suggesting they involved research for atomic weapons.

The resolution – worded to pass muster with Iran’s allies Russia and China – notably stopped short of sending the matter to the U.N. Security Council.

Tehran, which rejected the recent IAEA report as “baseless,” denies all Western allegations it is seeking a nuclear arsenal.

The Washington Post cited an e-mail by Mohammed Javad Larijani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader and the brother of Iran’s former negotiator on nuclear issues, in which he denied the U.S. allegation. “I believe such comments are being fabricated by the U.S. to complete their project of Iranophobia in the region and all through the world. Surely this is another baseless story for demonizing [the] Islamic Republic of Iran.”

In 2004, then Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi promised the U.S., Britain and the U.N. to declare and begin destruction of all of his country’s chemical arms. The stockpile’s existence now raises new questions about the ability of the world’s most powerful nations to police such pledges in tightly closed societies.

According to the report carried by the Post, this newly discovered stockpile will need to be protected from theft by militia groups or others in the politically unsettled nation. “Disposal of the munitions poses an additional challenge for Libya’s new government and allied Western powers, because the chemical-filled shells cannot be readily relocated and, according to some estimates, may take as long as a year to destroy in place,” said the report.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/21/178330.html