§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the biological weapons capacity of Iran. [40506]
§ Mr. SoamesIran has a developed biotechnology industry which would be capable of sustaining a biological warfare research programme. For this reason, it is a cause for concern that Iran, though a state party to the biological and toxin weapons convention since 1973, has not offered to submit to the UN centre for disarmament affairs any confidence-building and transparency declarations.