THE HAGUE (Ruptly) — US Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Kenneth Ward accused Iran and Russia of pursuing offensive chemical weapons programmes, during a speech at the OPCW headquarters in The Hague on Thursday.

Ward accused Iran of pursuing “Central Nervous System-Acting Chemicals for offensive purposes” and of failing to declare its chemical weapons capabilities to the OPCW.

Ward also accused Russia of maintaining a chemical weapons programme and of using “an unscheduled, military-grade nerve agent in an assassination attempt of the Skripals in Salisbury”.