Iran urges legal action against Saddam-era chemical weapons suppliers News
Iran urges legal action against Saddam-era chemical weapons suppliers

[JURIST] Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki [Iran MFA website] urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] Monday to "take legal action" against 400 companies that allegedly supplied chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] during the 1980-1988 Iraqi war with Iran [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Mottaki said that action against the companies involved in supplying chemical weapons to Hussein "will prevent expansion of such weapons." He was speaking to reporters at an international seminar on the Consequences of the Use of Chemical Weapons against Iran [seminar website] marking the tenth anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) [UN materials].

It is unclear, however, what form an ICJ action could take in this instance as the court only deals in legal disputes between states submitted to it by them and requests for advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by UN organs and specialized agencies. IRNA has more.