IS has recently been accused of carrying out chemical weapons attacks against Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraqi Kurdistan. In August, US officials confirmed that mustard gas had been used to attack Kurdish forces in the northern Iraqi city of Makhmour.
"We are alarmed by multiple reports about the use of toxic substances as chemical weapons by IS and other terrorist groups in Iraq. We believe that the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism should be extended to that country," Churkin said during a Moscow-New York video conference held by Rossiya Segodnya news agency.
On Thursday, Churkin, as president of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for September, signed a letter on behalf of the UNSC authorizing the launch of a joint UN-OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
A resolution on the establishment of the Joint Investigative Mechanism was unanimously adopted by the UNSC in August.
