Statements at the Sixteenth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the great messenger, the trustworthy one, and upon his pure family and chosen companions, and upon all prophets and messengers.

I welcome you, esteemed guests, leaders, and delegations of the countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as other participants in this great international summit.

We have gathered here to continue the movement and current that was established six decades ago with the wisdom, situational awareness, and courage of a few responsible and caring political leaders, guided and assisted by the Lord, in accordance with today’s global circumstances and needs, and indeed to breathe new life and renewed momentum into it.

Our guests have come from distant and nearby geographical regions, belonging to various nationalities and ethnicities, and possessing diverse ideological, cultural, historical, and hereditary affiliations; but as Ahmad Sukarno, one of the founders of this movement, said at the famous Bandung Conference in 1955, the foundation of non-alignment is not geographical, racial, or religious unity, but unity of need. At that time, the member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement needed a bond that could protect them from the dominance of authoritarian and insatiable networks; today, with the advancement and expansion of domination tools, this need remains.

I want to present another truth:

Islam has taught us that despite racial, linguistic, and cultural differences, human beings share a common nature that calls them to purity, justice, benevolence, empathy, and cooperation, and it is this universal essence that, if it passes through misleading motivations safely, guides humanity towards the oneness and knowledge of the exalted essence of God.

This radiant truth possesses such capacity that it can serve as the foundation and support for the establishment of free and proud societies that enjoy progress and justice simultaneously, and it can infuse the light of spirituality into all material and worldly activities of humanity, providing a worldly paradise—before the promised heavenly paradise of divine religions—for them. Moreover, it is this shared and universal truth that can lay the groundwork for brotherly cooperation among nations that, in terms of outward appearance, historical background, and geographical region, bear no resemblance to one another.

Whenever international cooperation is based on such a foundation, governments build their relations not on fear and threat or greed and unilateral interests or the mediation of treacherous and self-serving individuals, but on healthy and common interests, and above all, on the interests of humanity, thus alleviating the concerns of their awakened consciences and the memories of their nations.

This ideal order stands in stark contrast to the system of domination, which in recent centuries has been claimed and promoted by the Western hegemonic powers, and today by the bullying and aggressive government of the United States.

Dear guests!

Today, the main ideals of the Non-Aligned Movement remain alive and steadfast after six decades; ideals such as decolonization, political, economic, and cultural independence, non-alignment with power poles, and the promotion of solidarity and cooperation among member countries. The realities of today’s world are distanced from those ideals; however, collective will and comprehensive efforts to transcend these realities and achieve those ideals, though challenging, are hopeful and fruitful.

In the recent past, we have witnessed the failure of policies from the Cold War era and the subsequent unilateralism. The world, learning from this historical experience, is transitioning to a new international system, and the Non-Aligned Movement can and must play a new role. This system must be based on universal participation and equality of rights among nations; and our solidarity as member countries of this movement is one of the prominent necessities of the current era.

Fortunately, the outlook on global transformations heralds a multi-polar system in which traditional power poles give way to a collection of countries, cultures, and civilizations with diverse economic, social, and political backgrounds. The remarkable events we have witnessed in the last three decades clearly show that the rise of new powers has been accompanied by the weakening of old powers. This gradual shift in power provides the Non-Aligned countries with the opportunity to take on an effective and deserving role on the global stage and to create the groundwork for a just and truly participatory management across the globe. We, the member countries of this movement, have been able to maintain our solidarity and connection within the framework of shared ideals over a long period, despite the diversity of viewpoints and tendencies; and this is not a trivial or small achievement. This bond can serve as a foundation for transitioning to a just and humane order.

The current conditions of the world present a perhaps unprecedented opportunity for the Non-Aligned Movement. Our message is that the command room of the world should not be governed by the dictatorship of a few Western countries. A global democratic participation in international management must be established and guaranteed. This is the need of all countries that have been directly or indirectly harmed by the encroachments of a few bullying and hegemonic countries.

The United Nations Security Council has an illogical, unjust, and completely undemocratic structure and mechanism; this is an overt dictatorship and an outdated and expired situation. It is through the misuse of this flawed mechanism that the United States and its accomplices have been able to impose their bullying under the guise of noble concepts on the world. They speak of “human rights” while imposing Western interests; they speak of “democracy” while replacing it with military intervention in countries; they speak of “fighting terrorism” while targeting defenseless people in villages and cities with their bombs and weapons. In their view, humanity is divided into first, second, and third-class citizens. Human life in Asia, Africa, and Latin America is cheap, while in America and Western Europe, it is valued highly. The security of America and Europe is deemed important, while the security of the rest of humanity is considered insignificant. Torture and assassination, if carried out by Americans and Zionists and their proxies, are permissible and completely overlookable. Their secret prisons, which in various locations across continents witness the ugliest and most abhorrent behaviors towards defenseless, unrepresented, and untried prisoners, do not disturb their conscience. Good and evil are defined entirely selectively and unilaterally. They impose their interests under the name of “international laws” and their coercive and illegal statements under the name of “the global community” on nations, and with the organized monopoly media network, they present their lies as truth, their falsehoods as rights, and their oppression as justice-seeking, while labeling any truthful statement that exposes their deception as a lie and any legitimate demand as rebellion.

Friends! This flawed and harmful situation is unsustainable. Everyone is tired of this incorrect international geometry. The 99% movement of the people in America against the centers of wealth and power in that country, and the public protests in Western European countries against their governments’ economic policies also indicate the overflowing cup of patience and tolerance of nations regarding this situation. This unreasonable situation must be remedied.

The strong, logical, and comprehensive bond among the member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement can have profound impacts in finding and traversing the path to remedy.

Esteemed attendees!

International peace and security are among the pressing issues of our world today, and the disarmament of mass destruction and catastrophic weapons is an urgent necessity and a universal demand. In today’s world, security is a shared and indiscriminate phenomenon. Those who stockpile inhumane weapons in their arsenals have no right to consider themselves the flag bearers of global security. This will undoubtedly not bring security for them either. Today, it is sadly observed that countries possessing the most nuclear weapons have no serious and genuine will to eliminate these deadly tools from their military doctrine, and they still consider them a means of threat mitigation and an important indicator in defining their political and international standing. This notion is entirely rejected and condemned.

Nuclear weapons neither ensure security nor strengthen political power; rather, they pose a threat to both. The events of the 1990s in the twentieth century demonstrated that possessing these weapons could not even preserve a regime like the former Soviet Union. Today, we also recognize countries that, despite having nuclear bombs, are exposed to waves of deadly insecurities.

The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the use of nuclear and chemical weapons and similar ones to be a great and unforgivable sin. We have raised the slogan of “a Middle East free of nuclear weapons” and remain committed to it. This does not mean renouncing the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy and the production of nuclear fuel. The peaceful use of this energy, based on international laws, is the right of all countries. Everyone should be able to utilize this healthy energy for various vital needs of their country and nation without being dependent on others. A few Western countries that themselves possess nuclear weapons and have committed this illegal act wish to monopolize the ability to produce nuclear fuel as well. A mysterious movement is taking shape to establish and perpetuate the monopoly of nuclear fuel production and sales in centers with international names but actually in the hands of a few Western countries.

The bitter irony of our time is that the United States, which possesses the most and deadliest nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and is the only one to have used them, now wants to take up the banner against nuclear proliferation! They and their Western partners have equipped the usurping Zionist regime with nuclear weapons and have created a significant threat for this sensitive region; yet this deceptive group does not tolerate the peaceful use of nuclear energy for independent countries and even fights against the production of nuclear fuel for radiopharmaceuticals and other peaceful human uses with all their might. Their false pretext is the fear of nuclear weapon production. In the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they know that they are lying; however, when politics lacks any trace of spirituality, it permits even lies. Does one who threatens with nuclear weapons in the twenty-first century and feels no shame refrain from lying?

I emphasize that the Islamic Republic is never seeking nuclear weapons, nor will it ever renounce its people’s right to peaceful use of nuclear energy. Our slogan is “nuclear energy for all, and nuclear weapons for no one.” We will stand firm on both of these statements and know that breaking the monopoly of a few Western countries in nuclear energy production within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty is in the interest of all independent countries, including the member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The experience of three decades of successful resistance against the bullying and comprehensive pressures of America and its allies has firmly convinced the Islamic Republic that the resistance of a united nation with a resolute determination can overcome all hostilities and enmities and open the honorable path towards its lofty goals. The comprehensive advancements of our country in the past two decades are a reality that is evident to all, and international observers have repeatedly acknowledged it; and all this has occurred under conditions of sanctions, economic pressures, and the propaganda attacks of networks affiliated with America and Zionism. The sanctions that the naysayers called paralyzing have not only not paralyzed us and will not do so, but have made our steps firmer, our resolve higher, and our confidence in the correctness of our analyses and the endogenous capabilities of our nation stronger. We have repeatedly witnessed God’s assistance in these challenges.

Esteemed guests!

I find it necessary to speak about a very important issue here; although it pertains to our region, its extensive dimensions have influenced global policies for several decades, and that is the painful issue of Palestine. The summary of this saga is that an independent country with a clear historical identity named “Palestine” was, based on a horrific Western conspiracy led by Britain in the 1940s of the twentieth century, seized from its people and forcibly handed over to a group that has largely been migrated from European countries through weapons, slaughter, and deception. This great usurpation, which initially accompanied the mass slaughter of defenseless people in cities and villages and the expulsion of people from their homes to neighboring countries, has continued for over six decades with the same crimes and continues today. This is one of the most important issues of humanity. The political and military leaders of the usurping Zionist regime have not refrained from any crime during this time; from slaughtering people and destroying their homes and farms to arresting and torturing their men and women and even their children, to humiliating and insulting the dignity of this nation and attempting to annihilate and absorb it into the belly of the usurping Zionist regime, and to attacking their camps in Palestine and in neighboring countries that have housed millions of refugees. The names “Sabra,” “Shatila,” “Qana,” “Deir Yassin,” and similar ones are inscribed in the history of our region with the blood of the oppressed Palestinian people. Even now, after sixty-five years, the same crimes continue in the behavior of the predatory Zionists towards the remaining people in the occupied territories. They continuously commit new crimes and confront the region with a new crisis. There is hardly a day that news does not emerge of the killing and injuring of youths who have risen to defend their homeland and dignity and protested against the destruction of their farms and homes. The Zionist regime, which has unleashed catastrophic wars and slaughtered people and occupied Arab lands and organized state terrorism in the region and the world, labels the Palestinian nation, which has risen and is fighting for its rights, as terrorists, and the media networks belonging to Zionism and many Western and mercenary media repeat this great lie while disregarding their ethical and media commitments. The political leaders who claim to advocate human rights also turn a blind eye to all these crimes and shamelessly and brazenly support that catastrophic regime, appearing as its defense attorney.

Our message is that Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, and the continuation of its occupation is a great injustice, intolerable, and a major threat to global peace and security. All the paths that the Westerners and their affiliates have proposed and traversed for “solving the Palestinian issue” have been wrong and unsuccessful, and will continue to be so in the future. We have proposed a just and completely democratic solution: all Palestinians, whether current residents or those who have been driven to other countries and have preserved their Palestinian identity, whether Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, should participate in a public referendum, under precise and reassuring supervision, to choose the political system of this country, and all Palestinians who have endured years of exile should return to their homeland and participate in this referendum and then in drafting the constitution and elections. Only then will peace be established.

Here, I would like to offer a piece of friendly advice to American politicians who have always appeared as defenders and supporters of the Zionist regime: This regime has caused you countless troubles; it has made your image detestable among the nations of the region and has introduced you as accomplices in the crimes of the usurping Zionists in their eyes; the material and moral costs that have been imposed on the government and people of America over the years from this path are staggering; and likely in the future, if this approach continues, your costs will become even heavier. Let us consider the Islamic Republic’s proposal regarding the referendum and with a courageous decision, free yourselves from the current inextricable knot. Undoubtedly, the people of the region and all free thinkers of the world will welcome this action.

Esteemed guests!

Now I return to the opening remarks. The conditions of the world are sensitive, and the world is undergoing a very important historical turning point. It is expected that a new order is being born. The Non-Aligned Movement comprises about two-thirds of the members of the global community and can play a significant role in shaping the future. The formation of this great summit in Tehran is also a meaningful event that must be taken into account. We, the members of this movement, can, by synergizing our extensive capabilities and capacities, create a historical and lasting role in saving the world from insecurity, war, and domination.

This goal is only achievable through our comprehensive cooperation with one another. Among us, there are many very wealthy countries as well as countries with international influence. Remedying problems through economic and media cooperation and the transfer of progressive and uplifting experiences is entirely feasible. We must strengthen our resolve; remain faithful to our goals; fear not the frowns of bullying powers and do not be deceived by their smiles; consider divine will and the laws of creation as our support; view the failure of the communist bloc experience two decades ago and the failure of the so-called Western liberal democracy policies currently—of which we see signs in the streets of European and American countries and the inextricable knots of their economies—as a lesson; and finally, regard the fall of dictators dependent on America and the complicity of the Zionist regime in North Africa and the Islamic awakening in the countries of the region as a great opportunity. We can think about enhancing the “political productivity of the Non-Aligned Movement” in global management; we can prepare a historical document for transformation in this management and provide the executive tools for it; we can design a movement towards effective economic cooperation and define cultural communication models among ourselves. Undoubtedly, the establishment of an active and motivated secretariat for this organization will greatly and significantly assist in achieving these objectives.

Thank you.