Why West Should Curb Hostility To Non-Aligned Summit in Tehran
The Non-Aligned Movement summit August 26–31 will be a diplomatic coup for Iran, write Abbas Maleki and Kaveh Afrasiabi, bolstering its international clout and "inalienable right" to enrich uranium. Though many governments have reacted negatively to the Tehran summit, the authors call for a more nuanced Western approach.
The approaching 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran at the end of August is shaping up as a diplomatic coup for Iran, by virtue of the planned participation of dozens of world leaders and the summit's transfer of NAM's presidency from Egypt to Iran for the next three years.
This will likely enhance Iran's capability to bolster its international solidarity and, above all, to defend its "inalienable nuclear rights" — the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, which has been consistently supported at previous NAM summits as well as by the NAM representatives at the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA).
Indeed, consistent NAM support for Iran's civilian nuclear program has been crucial to Iran's nuclear diplomacy, and will be even more so in the coming months as the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 nations (UN Security Council's permanent five members plus Germany) enters a crucial "make-or-break" phase after several rounds of marathon negotiations, most recently in Istanbul, Baghdad and Moscow. In turn, this will make it more difficult for the US and its Western allies to push for a complete suspension of Iran's enrichment program. There are, of course, other expected diplomatic and political dividends for Iran, such as enhancing Iran's regional clout as well as input at the UN General Assembly, home to the more than 120 NAM nations that have been pushing for, among other things, a greater role for the General Assembly, disarmament and a more horizontal “shared” global management in today’s post-cold war era.
As expected, the US and a number of other Western governments have reacted negatively toward the coming Tehran summit, citing Iran’s defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. But there are several valid reasons why a more nuanced Western approach is called for, one that avoids political reductionism and hasty conclusions that overlook the positive ramifications for regional stability and even the nuclear standoff, including the following:
