Chemical bombing of Sardasht

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Main article: Iraqi chemical attacks against Iran
Chemical bombing of Sardasht
Part of Iran–Iraq War
Sardasht victems.jpg
News of the 1987 chemical bombing of Sardasht in local newspaper
DateJune 28, 1987
Location
36°09′19″N 45°28′44″E / 36.15528°N 45.47889°E / 36.15528; 45.47889Coordinates: 36°09′19″N 45°28′44″E / 36.15528°N 45.47889°E / 36.15528; 45.47889
Result

Out of 12,000 inhabitants, 8,000 were exposed.

  • Many of the 95% who survived the gas attack developed serious long-term complications over the next few years. These included serious respiratory problems, eye lesions, skin problems, and immune system dysfunction
Belligerents
 Iraq  Iran
Casualties and losses
130 deaths (109 civilians; 21 military and other)

The chemical bombing of Sardasht took place on June 28, 1987. On that day, Iraq dropped what Iranian authorities believed to be mustard gas bombs on Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, in two separate bombing runs on four residential areas. It was initially estimated that 110 civilians died and 8000 civilians were injured in the bombing.[1]

The film Walnut Tree is inspired by this event.

Out of a population of 20,000, 25% are still suffering severe illnesses from the attacks.[2] The gas attacks occurred during the Iran–Iraq War, when Iraq frequently used chemical weapons against Iranian civilians and soldiers.

The responsibilities of the attack[]

In April 2004, the ruled that the United States government was liable for the attacks, due to its previous support of the government of Saddam Hussein. The US government was ordered to pay $600 million compensation to the victims.[3]

Because Sardasht was not considered a military target, the population was both unprotected and unprepared for a chemical weapons assault. Living close to the border and to the war front, citizens had become accustomed to Iraqi bombardment with conventional weapons. However, people later told physicians that they did not know that the bombs carried chemical weapons; in fact, at first they had been relieved when the bombs did not explode.

The victims[]

Due to the direction of the wind, even the hospital and the convalescent center were contaminated, and the few doctors and nurses who were working there had to leave. Two public baths were used for decontamination of the victims and a small stadium was converted to a 150-bed medical facility. Within the first few hours, about 30 people died, mostly young children and old people, due to severe respiratory problems.

Out of 12,000 inhabitants, according to official reports, 8,000 were exposed. Of the 4,500 requiring medical care, 1,500 were hospitalized, 600 of them in Tehran. The other 3,000 were treated as outpatients and discharged. Many of these 3,000 former outpatients left the city for the villages and attempted to treat themselves, using traditional medicines, etc. These people do not have medical records of their exposure and now are having difficulty obtaining government benefits.

Included among the 4,500 casualties requiring medical attention were some of the rescuers.[4] Islamic Republic of Iran announced this (chemical) assault to Sardasht as inhumane attack, and named Sardasht as the first city which was the victim of chemical armament in the world after Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[5]

Casualties up until 2007: altogether 130 people (109 civilians, 21 military and other) have died from the sulfur mustard attack on Sardasht in June 1987. Twenty people died in the first few hours, ten during the evacuation to other cities, and about one hundred more died in hospitals in Iran and Europe during the next month. Of the civilians who died, 39 were under 18 years of age, including 11 under the age of 5. Thirty-four women and girls died.[6][7]

Mustard is not considered a lethal agent, but an incapacitating agent, causing only 3-5% mortality. Many of the 95% who survived from the Sardasht gas attack, developed serious long-term complications over the next few years including serious respiratory problems, eye lesions, skin problems as well as problems in their immune system.[8][9]

On 21 March 1986, the Security Council of the United Nations stated that the Council members were "profoundly concerned by the unanimous conclusion of the specialists that chemical weapons on many occasions have been used by Iraqi forces against Iranian troops...[and] the members of the Council strongly condemn this continued use of chemical weapons in clear violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925 which prohibits the use in war of chemical weapons" (S/17911 and Add. 1, 21 March 1986). The United States voted against the issuance of this statement.[10]

OPCW[]

On 29 April 1997, years after the chemical attacks on Halabja and Sardasht, the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), entered into force.

OPCW.Sardasht victims exhibition
victims of Iraq's attacks on Sardasht with chemical weapons

Sardasht and Hiroshima[]

On 28 June 2004, in commemoration of the martyrs of the chemical bombing of Sardasht and the anniversary of the National day for fight against chemical and microbial weapons, one of the streets of Sardasht was named as Hiroshima. A Japanese delegation from Nagasaki and Hiroshima talked at the ceremony. 111 white pigeons were released into the sky at the site of the victims. In the city of Hiroshima, a street is named after Sardasht, and every year the mayor of Hiroshima sends a message on the occasion of the 28th of June, and a group of Iranian NGO related to chemical disarmament travel to Japan to participate in the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. Iranian NGO also have the annual exhibition in The Hague, the Netherlands, liaising with associations of victims of weapons of mass destruction in other countries, establishing a peace museum focusing on the effects of chemical weapons, membership in the International Network of Peace Museums, participation in the anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan . [1][2]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Iran Profile - Chemical Chronology 1987". Nuclear Threat Initiative. October 2003. Archived from the original on 2007-04-16. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  2. ^ Iranian Chemical Attacks Victims
  3. ^ "Iran: Tehran's Public Court issues $600 million verdict against US to pay to Sardasht residents". Payvand. 2004-04-28. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  4. ^ Foroutan, Abbas. Medical Review of Iraqi Chemical Warfare. Tehran, Iran: Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, 2003, p. 183
  5. ^ "Sardasht, the victim of Chemical (attack)". isna.ir. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  6. ^ Khateri S, Wangerin R. Denied Truths, the story of victims of chemical weapons in Iran, center for women and family affairs. 2008 , ISBN 978-600-5201-13-0
  7. ^ Khateri S. Victims of chemical weapons in Iran – an evaluation on health status of 45,000 Iranian victims of chemical warfare agents. Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support (SCWVS) (www.scwvs.org), April 2003, ISBN 964-93602-5-5
  8. ^ Khateri S, Ghanei M, Soroush MR, Haines D. Effects of mustard gas exposure in paediatric patients. Long-term health status of mustard-exposed children, 14 years after chemical bombardment of Sardasht. J Burns & Wound Care [serial online] (http://www.journalofburnsandwounds.com), 2003;2(1):11
  9. ^ Ghanei M, Aslani J, Khateri S, Hamadanizadeh K. Public Health Status of the Civil Population of Sardasht 15 Years Following Large−Scale Wartime Exposure to Sulfur Mustard. J Burns &Surg Wound Care [serial online] 2003;2(1):7. Available from: URL: http://www.journalofburns.com . Published March 11, 2003
  10. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2017-04-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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