While the United States, Israel and their European allies are pulling out all the stops to isolate Iran over its nuclear program, the upcoming meeting of the heads of state of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran seems to be throwing a spanner in their works.
The Non-Aligned Movement, the rotating presidency of which will be conferred to Iran on August 26, is a major international organization comprising 120 member states that represent the political, cultural, economic and social interests of the developing world.
The movement which is consisted of two third of the UN member states was established in 1961 in Belgrade and despite the fact that the majority of its members are developing nations, many of them play a defining and determining role in such strategic regions as the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America.
Over the past weeks, Iranian President has been sending envoys to different NAM member countries to invite their heads of state and government to attend the forthcoming summit in Tehran. The latest NAM summit was held in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh from July 11-16, 2009 and Tehran will host representatives from 120 countries in the forthcoming gathering.
Now, Iranian officials expect that a great number of the member states will attend the summit in high levels and it goes without saying that the presence of so many officials from different world countries in the conference which will be hosted by Tehran may not be pleasant and favorable to those who want to see Iran’s regional dominance and international influence derailed.
NAM enjoys remarkable capacities for shaping a new global order based on respecting the rights of the developing nations which are more often than not treated indecorously by the hegemonic powers. With the active cooperation of the member states, NAM can realize its innumerable potentialities and extricate itself from the domination of the superpowers that are usually after exploiting the precious natural resources of these countries.
The Non-Aligned Movement is said to be the largest international organization after the United Nations and it has the capability of effectively influencing the international developments if its member states take its mechanisms seriously and are convinced that their participation in the process of decision-making and collaboration will help them have a say in the global political and economic equations. They can assist each other in diplomatic lobbying in important events such as the UN General Assembly, selecting the non-permanent members of the Security Council and making decisions in the UN Human Rights Council as well as contributing to the progress of entities such as the African Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Although non-association and non-alliance with the Western and Eastern superpowers is a characteristic feature of the members of the movement, emerging superpowers such as China, Brazil and Mexico serve NAM as observing members. Moreover, countries such as India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa which have strong ties with the United States and are members of the G20 group (the bloc of 20 world major economies) are among the NAM member states.
Iran’s presidency over such a prominent international organization comes while the European Union has just put into effect its intended oil embargo against Iran, banning the European states from importing oil from Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil producer. At the same time, the United States has imposed a fresh round of sanctions against Iran’s banking sector, penalizing the foreign banks which have financial transactions with Iranian counterparts.
The United States, Israel and Europe are pressing Iran on multiple fronts so as to isolate the country and undermine its regional clout: from propagating falsehood and mendacity about Iran and Iranians in the mainstream media to launching malicious cyber attacks against the computers operating in Iran’s nuclear facilities, passing anti-Iranian resolutions in the UN Security Council, relentlessly murdering the country’s nuclear scientists, imposing hard-hitting financial sanctions and beating the drum of war. However, Iran has persistently and determinedly has tolerated all the hardships and now is foiling the mischievous plots one after another.
The upcoming NAM summit in Tehran is an invaluable opportunity for Iran to show its diplomatic prowess and demonstrate that it’s impossible for the bullying powers and their stooges to isolate it.
Although it’s an unwritten convention that not all the heads of state will take part in such summits as NAM, it can be predictable that the important event which will take place with the participation of several high-ranking officials from different world countries will mark the spring of Iranian diplomacy and a backbreaking blow to those who want to find Iran isolated, secluded and fragile. The event will unquestionably testify that Iran has not become that lonely and friendless country which the United States and its lackeys want.
