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Tehran: Iran's president called on Tuesday for developing nations to unite against what he said was bias by the UN Security Council, which the Islamic Republic accuses of siding with the West in a nuclear impasse.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call came as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran yesterday not to delay a decision on an international offer of incentives if it halts sensitive nuclear work, ahead of a Saturday deadline.
Iran wants to broaden international support for what it says is a peaceful drive to use nuclear technology but which the United States and the West says is a bid to make atomic bombs.
Ahmadinejad told ministers from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran that the Security Council and other world bodies were being manipulated by some world powers. He accused the powers of trying to deny others peaceful nuclear energy while they themselves 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," Ahmadinejad told the gathering. 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. The movement has previously backed Tehran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Call for settlement
A draft statement echoed this. But diplomats working on the statement said it was "watered down" from a more strongly worded document. "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," Ahmadinejad said in his address. Ahmadinejad called for an "arbitration council" to mediate in disputes and a fund to back development.
"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 said. South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Iran had a right to peaceful energy but also had "obligations like all of us to make sure that the IAEA knows what is going on".
israel 'attack option still open'
Israel's defence minister says he has told top US officials that Israel will not rule out a military strike against Iran. Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime minister, is in the middle of two days of meetings at the White House, Pentagon and State Department. He told reporters on Tuesday that he has said during those meetings that there is still time to pursue tough diplomacy with Iran. At the same time he has told the Americans that Israel will not remove any of its options from the table.
The United States also has not ruled out a military strike to stop Iran's presumed drive for nuclear weapons, but an Israeli strike is considered more likely in the short term.
Barak would not say what advice he has been getting from the Americans. "Iran's plans pose a threat to regional and global stability. We insist that it is vital to continue tightening the economic and financial sanctions imposed on the Iranians," he said.
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