UN specialists report chemical weapons use in the war

Iran charged that Iraq used chemical weapons in the Baneh and Sardasht areas on 21 April, injuring people. The UN Yearbook records this claim and further disputes over reported attacks on villages...

The mission reached the Baneh area by helicopter but cancelled the landing for safety reasons. Restricted access limited direct examination of alleged attack sites.

UN specialists visited Abali Military Base near Tehran to examine weapon debris transported from the southwestern war zone, using an alternative location for evidence assessment.

The mission examined patients at Baghdad’s Al Rasheed Military Hospital and inspected fragments returned from the Basra war zone, investigating Iraqi complaints alongside Iranian evidence.

After a dust storm delayed travel, UN specialists surveyed five sites east of Basra and visited Basra Military Hospital, extending their inquiry to Iraq’s war-zone evidence.

A Council statement cited repeated Iraqi chemical use against Iranian forces and chemical injuries to civilians in Iran. It also noted Iraqi military injuries from chemical agents.

Iran forwarded photographs said to show the effects of chemical weapons on residents, including children, in Alut village near Baneh. The submission formed part of Tehran’s campaign for...

An Iraqi aircraft fired two Exocet missiles at the U.S. frigate USS Stark, killing 37 American sailors and injuring 21. The attack showed how Iraq’s air campaign and the Tanker War could draw...

TASS reported that a Soviet tanker had struck a mine off Kuwait. The incident exposed Soviet-linked commercial shipping to the hazards of the Gulf war.

Iraq protested that the UN mission and Council noted Iraqi chemical injuries without concluding that Iran caused them. Kittani demanded a stronger attribution than the investigators had made.