Iran's president called yesterday for developing nations to unite to fight what he said was bias shown by the UN Security Council and other world bodies that only serve the big powers' interests.
Iran wants to broaden its international support in a row over its nuclear plans with Western capitals, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says manipulate the Security Council and other bodies to act against the Islamic Republic.
The Council has imposed three rounds of limited sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt sensitive atomic work, which the West says is aimed at making nuclear bombs but Tehran insists is designed to meet electricity needs.
Mr Ahmadinejad accused world powers of trying to deny others peaceful nuclear energy while they stockpiled atomic weapons.
"The major powers are on a descending course. The extent of their influence drops day by day. They are approaching the end of their era," Mr Ahmadinejad told a Non-Aligned Movement meeting.
NAM, now with 118 members plus observers, was set up in 1961 to group many newly independent nations which wanted to avoid being caught up in the Cold War between Moscow and Washington. It has struggled to stay relevant since the former Soviet Union fell.
"Any measure to change the world conditions and realise the joint interests of member states will not be possible except through effective efforts and collective cooperation of member states," Mr Ahmadinejad told the ministerial meeting in Tehran.
He said the group together "can defend and repel aggression against any member subjected to aggression, and obstruct the violation by major powers of other countries."
Mr Ahmadinejad called for an "arbitration council" that could resolve any disputes between NAM members as well as others, and a fund to back development in NAM but did not give details.
Mr Ahmadinejad said the Security Council would never issue a resolution against the US, Iran's arch-foe, as long as Washington, like four other big powers, had a permanent seat. The permanent council members have veto powers.
A draft NAM statement, obtained by Reuters, echoed previous calls backing Iran's right to develop, research, produce and use peaceful atomic energy, while welcoming Tehran's continued cooperation with the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. The final text has yet to be approved.
"We only pray that Iran, together with the International Atomic Energy Agency, together with the ... big powers, sit down and resolve this matter amicably," Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe told Reuters on the sidelines of the meeting. A European diplomat, attending the meeting, said Iran's push for more explicit support for its case against world powers had met opposition from some NAM states, including regional rival Saudi Arabia and Egypt, with which Iran does not have full ties.
Western powers on July 19 gave Iran two weeks to respond. Russia, which like China has tended to take a softer line on Iran, has said it opposes artificial deadlines, as well as any foot dragging by Tehran.
Factbox: Non-Aligned Movement
Origins:
• The Bandung Asian-African Conference in April 1955 was instrumental in founding the Non-Aligned Movement. That meeting gathered delegates from 29 countries, many newly independent from their colonial rulers.
Founding summit:
• The NAM was formally set up in 1961 in Belgrade by developing countries that chose not to align with the US or Soviet Union to avoid becoming caught up in Cold War politics. Twenty-five countries were represented.
• The founding fathers were President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India, President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, President Achmad Sukarno of Indonesia and President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.
• President Nasser, a champion of Arab nationalism, was a hero to Arabs for defying the US and colonial powers Britain and France in the 1950s and 1960s. "We don't want to become a part of any sphere of influence for any power. That is what the US has tried to do with us," he said.
NAM today:
• The movement now has 118 member states, but has struggled to stay relevant since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union's collapse reduced the world to one superpower.
• After the September 11 attacks on the US, President George W. Bush told the world there could be no such thing as neutrality in US eyes.
The Tehran meeting:
• At the opening ceremony for the Tehran ministerial meeting, which runs till today, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki asked NAM to support Iran's bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for next year and 2010.