Iran welcomes Saddam verdict, says West armed him

TEHRAN, Nov 5 (Reuters) Iran said hanging Saddam Hussein was a just punishment for his ''inhuman crimes'', but accused the West of arming the former Iraqi dictator against the Islamic Republic, Kuwait and the Iraqi people.

Tehran's arch-enemy, the United States, supplied arms and intelligence to Iraq during its 1980-88 war with Iran, and Iran says European countries supplied materials to Saddam for chemical weapons used on Iranian troops and his own people.

''The Islamic Republic of Iran, remembering the inhuman crimes of Saddam and his allies against the Iraqi, Iranian and Kuwaiti nations, and the necessity of preserving the rights of these nations, welcomes the verdict,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini.

''Although Saddam and his allies carried out those crimes, it should not be forgotten that Saddam's Western supporters also paved the way for him to carry out those oppressive acts and crimes.'' Around 1 million people were killed in the Iran-Iraq conflict, which witnessed trench warfare, Iraqi chemical attacks and mass Iranian frontal assaults against withering machine-gun fire reminiscent of World War One.

Washington also secretly sent arms to the Iranian side.

Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, but Saddam's troops were ejected in 1991 by US-led coalition forces.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany are currently pushing for United Nations sanctions against Iran over its refusal to scale back its nuclear programme, and Washington has accused Tehran of aiding insurgents in Iraq.

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