Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (left) with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right). Photo: www.direttanews.it.

A source in Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development party told Kuwait’s Al-Seyassah newspaper that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were overseeing Syria’s chemical weapons and monitoring their use.

The source said that an agreement had been made that Iranian commanders in Syria were deciding if and when to use the chemical weapons against rebels.

The source claimed that Syrian President Bashar Assad initially opposed the use of chemical weapons, but changed his mind after heavy pressure from Iran. In the end, Assad agreed to use them in a limited manner, while assuring that their release would not affect neighboring countries.