TEHRAN — Iran’s supreme leader led a diplomatic offensive on the sidelines of the closing session of the Nonaligned Movement meeting in Tehran on Friday, strongly criticizing those supporting the Syrian opposition.
The move by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, came a day after Mohamed Morsi, the new Islamist president of Egypt, whose participation in the meeting had been welcomed by Iran as a sign of a favorable anti-Western power shift in the Middle East, denounced the repression in Syria. Mr. Morsi’s speech was particularly awkward for Iran because the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad is Iran’s main ally in the region.
In addition a former Iranian ambassador to Syria openly criticized Mr. Morsi for his speech, saying his defense of the Syrian opposition illustrated he “lacked political maturity.”
The former ambassador, Hossein Sheikholeslam, currently an adviser of the country’s highest leaders, was quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying that the Egyptian president had overstepped diplomatic principles and had made “a big mistake.”
Further signs of friction emanated from actions by another honored guest at the Nonaligned Movement meeting, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, whose participation was considered by Iranian officials to be a repudiation of American and Israeli efforts to ostracize Iran as a rogue state. In a speech at Iran’s School of International Relations, Mr. Ban said that during a private meeting on Wednesday he had urged Ayatollah Khamenei to release all political prisoners.
The ayatollah and other Iranian officials such as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had avoided publicly defending their key ally Syria, apparently in order to prevent any disagreements during the strategically important summit, the biggest international gathering in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
But in indirect criticism of Mr. Morsi’s blunt speech on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei and others held several meetings on Friday accusing those opposing the Syrian government of trying to advance the interests of Israel and plotting the downfall of Iran’s so called “axis of resistance’ in the region.
Despite the victory of Mr. Morsi in the Egypt presidential elections in June, the country continues to honor its 1979 peace treaty with Israel. Iran has no relations with Israel and wants to country to disappear.
“There is a proxy war against the Syrian government, spearheaded by some states led by the U.S. and some other powers,” Ayatollah Khamenei told the visiting Iraq prime minister, Nuri Kamal al- Maliki, in comments broadcast on state television. “It aims to maintain the Zionist regime’s interests and to deal a blow to the resistance in the region.”
In the run-up to the summit Iran had been hoping Mr. Morsi’s visit would augur a new era of relations with Egypt, which had been nearly nonexistent since Iran’s Islamic revolution more than 33 years ago. Ayatollah Khamenei has long promoted the idea that the 2011 uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were heavily inspired by Iran’s ideology of Islamic democracy. The events in Syria are the result of a Western plot rather than a people’s revolution, he maintains. In speeches, he has set forth a vision of a rising Islamic bloc that will overshadow Western powers. Some Iranian officials started talking of a potential Iranian — Egyptian strategic alliance.
But on Thursday, speaking immediately after Ayatollah Khamenei, the Egyptian president’s strong worded speech completely countered the Iranian stance on Syria and likened the uprising in Syria to the revolutions that swept away longtime leaders in North Africa and to the struggle of the Palestinians.
“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.
Iran’s former ambassador to Syria, Mr. Sheikholeslam, explained that supreme leader Khamenei had “respectably restrained himself” in expressing Iran’s stance on Syria, he told the semiofficial Mehr news agency.
“We have many things to say about that issue, but it is disputed among members of the Nonaligned Movement, so we tried to reflect a common stance,” Mr. Sheikholeslam said. “But the Egyptian president expressed his own viewpoints while ignoring all principles of the Nonaligned Movement.”
The office of other main guest of honor, Mr. Ban, distributed a speech Mr. Ban gave on Thursday, speaking for a selected audience of students and foreign policy experts at a training institute of Iran’s foreign ministry.
Criticizing what he said were the costs of Iran’s defiant nuclear stance and its “human right challenges,” Mr. Ban said that he had asked Ayatollah Khamenei to release opposition leaders, human rights defenders, journalists and social activists “to create the conditions for free expression and open debate.”
With the summit also being a chance for the Iranian leaders to convince their nation of what they say is the Islamic republic’s growing international importance, state television has ignored remarks that deviate from the country’s official political narrative. Most Iranian media outlets did not comment on the contentious parts of Mr. Morsi’s speech, instead highlighting his praise for the way Iran had organized the meeting.
Foreign based Persian language satellite channels and Web sites, did, however extensively cover the summit, prompting state TV presenters to warn viewers they and Western media were “anti-Iranian.”
One Iranian official said that Iran had welcomed Mr. Morsi’s opposing views, saying that they illustrated the country’s “broad-mindedness”.
“We are not against expression of views,” the official, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran’s state High Council for Human Rights, was quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying. “We also believe that no one should impose one’s opinion on others.”
The move by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, came a day after Mohamed Morsi, the new Islamist president of Egypt, whose participation in the meeting had been welcomed by Iran as a sign of a favorable anti-Western power shift in the Middle East, denounced the repression in Syria. Mr. Morsi’s speech was particularly awkward for Iran because the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad is Iran’s main ally in the region.
In addition a former Iranian ambassador to Syria openly criticized Mr. Morsi for his speech, saying his defense of the Syrian opposition illustrated he “lacked political maturity.”
The former ambassador, Hossein Sheikholeslam, currently an adviser of the country’s highest leaders, was quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying that the Egyptian president had overstepped diplomatic principles and had made “a big mistake.”
Further signs of friction emanated from actions by another honored guest at the Nonaligned Movement meeting, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, whose participation was considered by Iranian officials to be a repudiation of American and Israeli efforts to ostracize Iran as a rogue state. In a speech at Iran’s School of International Relations, Mr. Ban said that during a private meeting on Wednesday he had urged Ayatollah Khamenei to release all political prisoners.
The ayatollah and other Iranian officials such as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had avoided publicly defending their key ally Syria, apparently in order to prevent any disagreements during the strategically important summit, the biggest international gathering in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
But in indirect criticism of Mr. Morsi’s blunt speech on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei and others held several meetings on Friday accusing those opposing the Syrian government of trying to advance the interests of Israel and plotting the downfall of Iran’s so called “axis of resistance’ in the region.
Despite the victory of Mr. Morsi in the Egypt presidential elections in June, the country continues to honor its 1979 peace treaty with Israel. Iran has no relations with Israel and wants to country to disappear.
“There is a proxy war against the Syrian government, spearheaded by some states led by the U.S. and some other powers,” Ayatollah Khamenei told the visiting Iraq prime minister, Nuri Kamal al- Maliki, in comments broadcast on state television. “It aims to maintain the Zionist regime’s interests and to deal a blow to the resistance in the region.”
In the run-up to the summit Iran had been hoping Mr. Morsi’s visit would augur a new era of relations with Egypt, which had been nearly nonexistent since Iran’s Islamic revolution more than 33 years ago. Ayatollah Khamenei has long promoted the idea that the 2011 uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were heavily inspired by Iran’s ideology of Islamic democracy. The events in Syria are the result of a Western plot rather than a people’s revolution, he maintains. In speeches, he has set forth a vision of a rising Islamic bloc that will overshadow Western powers. Some Iranian officials started talking of a potential Iranian — Egyptian strategic alliance.
But on Thursday, speaking immediately after Ayatollah Khamenei, the Egyptian president’s strong worded speech completely countered the Iranian stance on Syria and likened the uprising in Syria to the revolutions that swept away longtime leaders in North Africa and to the struggle of the Palestinians.
“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.
Iran’s former ambassador to Syria, Mr. Sheikholeslam, explained that supreme leader Khamenei had “respectably restrained himself” in expressing Iran’s stance on Syria, he told the semiofficial Mehr news agency.
“We have many things to say about that issue, but it is disputed among members of the Nonaligned Movement, so we tried to reflect a common stance,” Mr. Sheikholeslam said. “But the Egyptian president expressed his own viewpoints while ignoring all principles of the Nonaligned Movement.”
The office of other main guest of honor, Mr. Ban, distributed a speech Mr. Ban gave on Thursday, speaking for a selected audience of students and foreign policy experts at a training institute of Iran’s foreign ministry.
Criticizing what he said were the costs of Iran’s defiant nuclear stance and its “human right challenges,” Mr. Ban said that he had asked Ayatollah Khamenei to release opposition leaders, human rights defenders, journalists and social activists “to create the conditions for free expression and open debate.”
With the summit also being a chance for the Iranian leaders to convince their nation of what they say is the Islamic republic’s growing international importance, state television has ignored remarks that deviate from the country’s official political narrative. Most Iranian media outlets did not comment on the contentious parts of Mr. Morsi’s speech, instead highlighting his praise for the way Iran had organized the meeting.
Foreign based Persian language satellite channels and Web sites, did, however extensively cover the summit, prompting state TV presenters to warn viewers they and Western media were “anti-Iranian.”
One Iranian official said that Iran had welcomed Mr. Morsi’s opposing views, saying that they illustrated the country’s “broad-mindedness”.
“We are not against expression of views,” the official, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran’s state High Council for Human Rights, was quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying. “We also believe that no one should impose one’s opinion on others.”