Iran probably has germ weapons, possibly N.Korea-US
Mon. 20 Nov 2006
By Richard Waddington GENEVA, Nov 20 (Reuters) -

Iran probably has germ warfare weapons, North Korea may have developed them and Syria could have carried out research into such banned weaponry, the United States told an arms control conference on Monday.

Addressing the opening session of the sixth review conference of the Convention on Biological Weapons (BWC), U.S. delegation head John C. Rood said those countries were of particular concern given their "support for terrorism".

"We believe that Iran probably has an offensive biological weapons programme in violation of the BWC," Rood said. "We also believe North Korea has a biological weapons capability and may have developed, produced and weaponised for use. Finally, we remain seriously concerned that Syria ... has conducted research and development for an offensive BW programme," he said. Both Iran, which Washington also accuses of seeking nuclear weapons, and North Korea, which has them, are members of the 31-year-old BWC. Syria has signed, but not ratified the pact. **

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