Non-Aligned Movement meets in Tehran
Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) opened its summit today in the Iranian capital, bringing together a motley crew of developing countries, dictatorships and emerging nations. Despite concerns that Iran might exploit his presence, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon travelled to Tehran for the conference. Yesterday, he openly criticised Iran's nuclear programme and its threats against Israel but also insisted that Tehran was important for a solution to the Syrian crisis.
A total of 29 heads of state or government attended the conference's opening ceremony, including those of India, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Zimbabwe and North Korea. The other three quarters of NAM members were represented by senior officials, vice presidents, deputy prime ministers, foreign ministers and envoys.
In his opening address, Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, "We have gathered here today to inject a new life and stimulus into the Non-Aligned Movement". However, most of his speech was devoted to defending Iran and its nuclear programme.
Iran's supreme leader said that his country did not seek "nuclear weapons" but only the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
In a not so subtle jab at Israel, the region's nuclear power, Khamenei called for a nuclear-free Middle East, reiterating Iran's demand of "Nuclear energy for all, nuclear weapons for none".
In his speech, he attacked the United Nations and its Security Council. He said the UN structure was "illogical", "unjust" and "non-democratic," saying that "the world must not be controlled by a few dictatorial regimes".
The disproportionate power wielded by the Security Council within the UN system is one of the Non-aligned Movement's main criticisms. The grouping emerged in the late 1950s to carve a space along the US-Soviet divide, but eventually drifted towards an anti-Western, Third World-centred stance, marred by the many one-man dictatorships among its member states.
Khamenei did not mention the Syrian crisis in which Tehran backs President Bashar al Assad. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi did talk about it instead.
Morsi is the first Egyptian head of state to visit Iran in 30 years. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, Tehran broke off diplomatic relations with Cairo.
In his statement, the Egyptian leader said that his country was ready to help the Syrian revolution and that Assad had lost all legitimacy in the eyes of the international community. He also criticised the structure of the Security Council, demanding a seat for Africa.
A few days before the Tehran conference, the United States and Israel urged Ban Ki-moon not to attend the summit because of potential manipulation. Instead, the secretary general met with Khamenei, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and parliamentary (Majlis) speaker Ali Larijani last night before the start of the event.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting with the Iranian leaders, Ban said that Iran can play an important role in finding a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis. However, he did criticise Iranian leaders for their desire to see the destruction of the State of Israel. "Claiming that Israel does not have the right to exist or describing it in racist terms is not only wrong but undermines the very principle we all have pledged to uphold."
Ban also expressed hope that Iran might do more to help the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency verify the peaceful nature of its expanding nuclear programme.
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