Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has acknowledged for the first time chemical weapons had killed people in ally Syria and called for the international community to prevent their use.
It comes as the United Nations' top disarmament official Angela Kane arrived in Syria while state-controlled media claim troops have found chemicals in rebel tunnels.
She is seeking access to the site of Wednesday's apparent chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, east of Damascus, in which reports say over 1,000 civilians may have died.
UN inspectors already in the country investigating previous reported attacks have not been allowed visit the Damascus suburb where the atrocity occurred.
Syrian state-controlled TV reports that government troops have found chemical agents in tunnels used by rebels nearby.
Iran's President Rouhani stopped short of saying who had used the arms and did not mention the international furore over last week's attack.
Tehran has previously accused Syrian rebels of being behind what it called suspected chemical attacks.
US President Barack Obama has been meeting with his national security advisers today to discuss the alleged attack and the options available to the administration.
"Many of the innocent people of Syria have been injured and martyred by chemical agents and this is unfortunate," recently- elected President Rouhani was quoted by the ISNA news agency.
"We completely and strongly condemn the use of chemical weapons," he said, according to the agency.
"The Islamic Republic gives notice to the international community to use all its might to prevent the use of these weapons anywhere in the world, especially in Syria," he added, according to the Mehr news agency.
Syria's government denies using such weapons and Iran's foreign minister earlier this week said groups fighting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in a rebellion since 2011 must have been behind what he then said was just a suspected attack.
Russia, another major ally in the Syrian government, has also blamed opposition forces.
Today's reports on Syrian state television sought to back this view, claiming some soldiers have been suffocating after the find in the suburb of Jobar in Damascus.
"Army heroes are entering the tunnels of the terrorists and saw chemical agents," state television quoted a 'news source' as saying.
"In some cases, soldiers are suffocating while entering Jobar."
"Ambulances came to rescue the people who were suffocating in Jobar," it reported, adding that an army unit was preparing to storm the suburb where rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad are based.
Syria's uprising against four decades of Assad family rule has turned into a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.
Foreign powers have said chemical weapons could change the calculations in terms of intervention and are urging the Syrian government to allow a UN team of experts to examine the site of Wednesday's reported attacks.
The US is repositioning naval forces in the Mediterranean to give Mr Obama the option for an armed strike on Syria, although officials cautioned that Mr Obama had made no decision on military action.
So far, Mr Assad's government has not said whether it will allow access to the site of Wednesday's atrocity despite intensifying pressure from the UN, Western and Gulf Arab countries as well as its ally Russia.
If confirmed, it would be the world's deadliest chemical attack in decades.
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