Ex-Iranian prez says Assad regime behind chemical weapons attack on civilians

Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has said the Syrian government had carried out a chemical weapons attack against its own people.

Syria is a strong ally of Tehran. Rafsanjani's remarks differed from other Iranian officials, who have said rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were responsible for a poison gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus on 21 August.

The chemical weapons attack, which led to thousands of deaths including a number of children and women, has led to ten West threatening a military strike against the Syrian government.

According to news24, Rafsanjani said Iranians have been the target of a chemical attack by their own government and now they must also wait for an attack by foreigners.

He said that America, the Western world along with some of the Arab countries are nearly issuing a clarion call for war in Syria - may God have mercy on the people of Syria.

Rafsanjani is a close ally of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and chairs Iran's Expediency Council, which advises Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the report added.