Iranian Earthquake Rocks CW Facilities

June 24, 2002

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Iran has been rocked by a powerful earthquake that has so far killed hundreds of people in an area that contains a major chemical weapons facility.

The earthquake struck northwestern Iran near the Turkish border. The area hardest hit by the quake was the Qazvin province, where Iran's chemical industry as well as a chemical weapons facility are located.

U.S. officials said Iran has maintained a major chemical weapons facility in Qazvin, west of Teheran. The Iranian CW infrastructure was built as a plant for the production of pesticide plant in the late 1980s.

Iran's main CW production facility is located at Damghan with other plants located in Isfahan and Parchin. The Qazvin plant was constructed in cooperation with India and is believed to manufacture phosphorous pentasulfide, a precursor for nerve gas.

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