Iran urges int'l probes into reports of U.S.-funded bio labs across world

TEHRAN, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Thursday called for "impartial international probes" into reports of the U.S.-funded military biological laboratories in Ukraine and other parts of the world.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani issued the call in a post on his Twitter page, in response to a report released on Wednesday by a Russian parliamentary commission investigating Washington's military-related biological activities in Ukraine.

The commission said that the U.S. is developing a "universal genetically-altered bioweapon" comparable to that of a "nuclear winter."

The report of the U.S.-funded military biological labs in Ukraine and some other countries are "deeply worrying," Kanaani wrote.

He stressed that such activities, which are in contradiction with the U.S. international commitments, especially those made under the Biological Weapons Convention, pose a threat to the humanity.

In its 207-page report, the Russian commission added that the probe into the manufacturing of the highly destructive bioweapon was based on the findings made public by Russia's Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops over the past year.

Soon after launching its military operations in Ukraine in February 2022, Russia accused the U.S. of pursuing a secret bioweapons program in the European state. Both the U.S. and Ukraine have denied the charges.

Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry said that, a few months after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russian forces began to collect information about the U.S. biological labs' role and functions in the country.