Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is rejecting U.S. claims that the threat of force spurred his decision to abandon chemical weapons. Speaking to Fox News, Assad said Syria proposed a chemical-free zone in the Middle East a decade ago, but the United States was opposed.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad: “No, actually, it’s not now. If you go back 10 years ago, when we were a non-permanent member of the Security Council in 2003, we proposed to the United Nations, to the Security Council, Syrian proposal is to get rid of the WMD from the Middle East, to have a free — chemical-free zone or WMD-free zone in the Middle East. And, actually, the United States opposed that proposal.”

In his comments, Assad also again denied carrying out last month’s chemical attack in Ghouta that killed hundreds of people. A U.N. report this week said the attack came from areas controlled by Assad’s regime, but Assad says Russian intelligence reports reached an opposite conclusion. Assad also said the disposal of Syria’s chemical weapons will take about one year and cost around a billion dollars.