During past few days, Tehran was a host to representatives of 120 Non-aligned Movement (NAM) countries, discussing several issues like the global order, global management, a world without nuclear bombs, Syria's tumultuous political situation, Iran's nuclear program and several other issues.
In the conclusion of the summit, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a rhetorical speech and labeled the conference unique in terms of quality and level of participation. He also bullet pointed the achievements, saying that participant all emphasized that current global order should be changed and just, virtuous personalities should manage the global order.
"We emphasized global challenges should be solved through dialogue and negotiation. We emphasized that violence should be avoided. We emphasized that principles of NAM is realizable only through close cooperation, fraternity and brotherhood among members", he said. He also indirectly criticized countries that, according to him, try their best to divide nations and prolong their dominance.
And finally, he openly asked participants to be prepared for a just world without violence, saying that a man will come and escorted by Prophet Essa (Jesus Christ) and he certainly will establish a free, just and fraternity-based world. The man he denoted is the twelfth Shiite Imam who, according to Shia beliefs, has, due to Allah Almighty's will and command, disappeared and one day will come back and will rule the world and restore peace and justice). Before, the start of his concluding speech, he also prayed in Arabic words for Twelfth Imam and asked Allah to make him his true followers.
This belief frequently has caused headache within the Islamic Republic of Iran. During the first and second Presidential period, speeches and propagations have increased tremendously. Some religious scholars claimed that signs for appearance of the Shiite Imam were completed and people could smell the scent of Youssef, a nick name for Imam Mahdi (A.S). (Yousuf is the name of son of Hazart-e-Yaqub (A.S) and he suffered too much to find his lost son, Youssef, as explained in detail in holy Quran.)
Some others have gone to extreme, trying to set date for the emergence of the holy Imam. Some recently alleged that supreme leader and President are the two colleagues of the Imam. It should be noticed that everyone cannot hold that position because the total colleagues of him are only seven. Sometimes the notion has become much problematic and circulated in the political sphere. There are reports about increasing differences between PresidentAhmadinejad and supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The supporter of Ayatullah Ali Khamenei previously supported Mr. President, particularly in the first round of his presidency. But reports show that differences crept between top Tehran officials and now President Ahmandinejad does not hold the former support among radical conservative wing, the ruling faction in the country. It seems that the status of supreme leader is remarkably strong that no one can easily challenge. He is the ultimate decision maker and till now has managed the situation.
Anyhow, the country is more than ever under the growing pressure of global and unilateral sanctions. There is need of close cooperation between factions, parties and officials within the country to control the consequences of sanctions imposed due to its intransigent standing regarding the nuclear program.
Reports from the country show that common people increasingly feel the shadow of sanctions on their daily lives. Inflation has increased tremendously and prices of goods and services generally moved up stunningly. Some Tehran officials also confess that sanctions have affected the economy but some compared the current situation to earlier period of life of Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) who with his followers were sanctioned by Quraish.
Thus, However, Tehran officials vividly put the intention of hosting the summit as revival of the principles that NAM established for, but it was interpreted as calculated move to lessen the growing pressure. The NAM summit was a good chance for Islamic republic officials to challenge what are labeled as double approaches in the region.
President Ahmadinejad always pointed finger towards the United States for its support to Israel. He frequently talked about elimination of Israel from the map and recently said that existence of Jewish state in the region was stigma for all human beings. Though such rhetoric is good for radical oppositions of Israel but generally the notion does not have supporters in the global sphere. But summit could help Tehran policy from the other angle. As noticed, participants emphasized on nonviolent solutions, as well as, peaceful means to solve the global challenges.
Israel is widely criticized for violence against Palestinians and occupation of theirterritories. The reserve of veto rights was discussed. Though some oppose that only five major countries enjoy veto right in the United Nations peaceful council, but generally smaller countries deem earning veto right as a dream.
In the summit, it was discussed that the authority of United Nations General Assembly should increase, which raised no oppositions because all nations have a seat there. Perhaps, every country likes to play role in the global sphere which can be realizable through empowerment of UN general assembly that can help Iran to assert influence in its discord with western countries. Additionally, it is highly possible that in bridge of summit officials have talked about economic issues and how to bypass the global sanctions.
It is not how Tehran officials succeeded to convince heads of states to build economic ties, but no doubt the summit provided a great chance to bargain on such critical issue that also in such critical time of Islamic Republic.