Iran welcomes Russian proposal on Syrian chemical arms

Iran “favourably welcomes” a Russian plan to head off threatened US strikes on Syria by securing a deal to destroy the regime’s chemical weapons, the foreign ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Marzieh Afgham told a media conference in Tehran that the proposal should include the destruction of chemical weapons in the hands of rebel groups fighting to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“The Islamic republic of Iran favourably welcomes the (Russian) initiative which aims at halting all military action” against Syria, Afgham said.

“We want our region to be cleared of all weapons of mass destruction … These efforts should also target the chemical weapons in the hands of Syria’s rebel groups,” she added.