§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have reason to believe that Iraq is developing a germ warfare capability and if so whether they intend to continue exporting arms to that country.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Glenarthur)Iraq is a party to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, which prohibits the development or possession of biological weapons. Any evidence that Iraq might be developing such a capability would therefore be a matter of serious concern.
Our guidelines on the export of defence-related equipment to Iran and Iraq are well known and were announced in another place on 29th October 1985. They are as follows:
- (i) We should maintain our consistent refusal to supply any lethal equipment to either side;
- (ii) Subject to that overriding consideration, we should attempt to fulfil existing contracts and obligations;
- (iii) We should not, in future, approve orders for any defence equipment which, in our view, would significantly enhance the capability of either side to prolong or exacerbate the conflict;
- (iv) In the line with this policy, we should'continue to scrutinise rigorously all applications for export licences for the supply of defence equipment to Iran and Iraq.