A preliminary report published Friday by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found no traces of any nerve agent at the site of a suspected chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma. The OPCW report states this unambiguously as follows:
"No organophosphorous nerve agents or their degradation products were detected in the environmental samples or in the plasma samples taken from alleged casualties."
A significant body of information points to the regime using chlorine in its bombardment of Duma, while some additional information points to the regime also using the nerve agent sarin.
In an interview today with CNN, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused the White House of misleading the public with comments about the nuclear deal, particularly the repeated use of the term "dismantling" in public comments.
Zarif noted the term "dismantling" doesn’t appear even once in the P5+1 deal, and that while the interim deal has them stopping some enrichment activity, it does not oblige them to dismantle anything at all.
"The White House version both underplays the concessions and overplays Iranian commitments," Zarif added.
The comments may be deliberate, as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted he will accept nothing less than the full dismantling of Iran’s entire civilian nuclear program, and President Obama may be trying to paint the deal, incorrectly, as roughly what Israel wants.
Israel, by contrast, was only pushing for full dismantling because it knew Iran wouldn’t agree, and that could be a pretext for a war. Israeli lobbies have repeatedly tried to undermine the deal, urging the US Senate to violate the deal so the talks would collapse.
American actress Daryl Hannah has been arrested in front of the White House along with other environmental protesters who oppose a planned oil pipeline from Canada to the US Gulf Coast.
