Summit Meeting in Iran Disrupted by Rebukes of Syria
Rauf Mohseni/European Pressphoto Agency
President Mohamed Morsi of
Egypt, right, speaking on Thursday in Tehran with President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, center, and Ban Ki-moon also on the stage.
By THOMAS ERDBRINK and RICK GLADSTONE
Published: August 30, 2012
TEHRAN — Iran’s
triumphal stewardship of the Nonaligned Movement summit meeting here
veered off script on Thursday when the two most prominently featured
guest speakers — President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon — denounced the repression of the armed uprising in Syria, a close Iranian ally.
Related
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Selected Excerpts of Morsi’s Speech (August 31, 2012)
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Threat to Syrian Civilians Is Growing, Officials Say (August 31, 2012)
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Syrian Émigrés Seek Aid in U.S. to Arm Rebels (August 30, 2012)
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Assad Admits Difficulties, but Projects Confidence (August 30, 2012)
Syria’s foreign minister walked out in protest over Mr. Morsi’s remarks
at the meeting, the largest international conference in Iran since the
1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian leaders have portrayed the meeting,
attended by delegations from 120 countries, as a validation of Iran’s
importance in the world and a rejection of Western attempts to ostracize
it.
Mr. Ban added further embarrassment to the Iranian hosts by publicly
upbraiding them in his speech for threatening to annihilate Israel and
for describing the Holocaust as a politically motivated myth. “I
strongly reject threats by any member state to destroy another or
outrageous attempts to deny historical facts, such as the Holocaust,”
Mr. Ban said.
In what appeared to signal Iran’s effort to avoid public friction over
the Syrian conflict that would detract from the tone of the Nonaligned
conference, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, opened the
day with a welcoming speech that conspicuously avoided any mention of
Syria. But the subsequent speeches by Mr. Morsi and Mr. Ban refocused
attention on it.
Mr. Morsi, Egypt’s new Islamist president, whose decision to accept
Iran’s invitation to attend the meeting was considered a major victory
by the Iranians, likened the uprising in Syria to the revolutions that
swept away longtime leaders in North Africa like Mr. Morsi’s own
predecessor in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak.
“The Syrian people are fighting with courage, looking for freedom and
human dignity,” Mr. Morsi said, suggesting that all parties at the
gathering shared responsibility for the bloodshed. “We must all be fully
aware that this will not stop unless we act.”
Mr. Morsi, pointedly, did not mention unrest in Bahrain, possibly to
avoid offending Saudi Arabia, which has helped Bahrain’s monarchy
suppress the uprising.
With the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sitting beside him, Mr. Morsi
delivered a stinging rebuke of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, whom
Mr. Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders have staunchly defended
throughout the conflict.
“Our solidarity with the children of beloved Syria against an oppressive
regime that has lost its legitimacy is a moral duty as much as a
political and strategic necessity that stems from our belief in a coming
future for the free proud Syria,” Mr. Morsi said.
“And we must all offer our complete, undiminished support for the
struggle for freedom and justice in Syria, and to translate our sympathy
into a clear political vision that supports peaceful transition to a
democratic government,” he said.
Mr. Ban, in the Syria portion of his speech, aimed a clear rebuke at the
Syrian government by saying “the crisis in Syria started with peaceful
demonstrations that were met by ruthless force. Now, we face the grim
risk of long-term civil war destroying Syria’s rich tapestry of
communities.” While he urged all antagonists to stop the violence, Mr.
Ban said, “The Syrian government has the primary responsibility to
resolve this crisis by genuinely listening to the people’s voices.”
Iran
stands isolated in the Islamic world in its support for President
Assad, a status that became abundantly clear when it was the only nation
to oppose the expelling of Syria as a member of the Organization of
Islamic Countries on Aug. 14.
Local Iranian news media did not report the comments on Syria by Mr. Ban
or Mr. Morsi, which strongly conflict with Iran’s official line; a top
military commander recently declared Mr. Assad’s government the “winner”
over the “U.S.- and Israel-backed terrorists.”
Such remarks have made it increasingly complicated for more pragmatic
Iranian politicians to offer alternative ideas when it comes to Syria,
with state television stressing daily the line of no compromise on
Iran’s support for Mr. Assad.
Mr. Morsi, the new leader of an Egypt re-emerging as a regional player,
and Ayatollah Khamenei, as the head of the Middle East’s only Islamic
republic, predicted the coming of a new world order in which the power
of the West fades as developing countries demand more influence. The
revolutions in the region are a clear sign of more changes to come, they
said.
In their separate speeches, Mr. Morsi and Ayatollah Khamenei both said
that the makeup of the United Nations Security Council, in which the
five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, France and
Britain — can veto decisions, should be altered.
“We need comprehensive changes so that the Security Council will be more
representative of the 21st century,” Mr. Morsi said in Arabic, speaking
through an interpreter.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who repeatedly lashed out against the United States,
said the composition of the Security Council had led to a “flagrant
form of dictatorship,” and he accused Washington of abusing “this
mechanism in order to impose its will on the world.”
Both leaders called for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the United States and its Western allies
had “equipped the usurper Zionist regime with nuclear weapons, which now pose a great threat to all of us.”
They also called for an independent Palestinian seat in the United Nations.
Mr. Ban, making his first visit to Iran as United Nations
secretary general, called upon Iran to comply with a set of five
Security Council resolutions demanding that the country stop enriching
uranium. But Ayatollah Khamenei made clear that Iran would never
compromise on the nuclear issue.
“The Islamic Republic is not after nuclear weapons,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “But we will never give up on our right to nuclear energy.”
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