Non-Aligned Movement leaders should take a stand against Western sanctions at a Tehran summit at the end of the month, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said yesterday, adding that many Nam members backed Iran’s nuclear programme.

“The Nam ... should seriously confront unilateral sanctions of certain nations against some members of the Nam,” Salehi said in a speech opening days of preparatory meetings for the summit on Thursday and Friday. He asserted that “so far, the Nam has condemned these measures.”

Salehi added that “we take this opportunity to thank the Nam for its support” backing Iran’s “legitimate rights” to nuclear activities.

Iran is subject to severe US and EU economic sanctions pressuring it to roll back nuclear activities that many Western governments suspect is aimed at acquiring an atomic weapons “break-out” capability.

Iran denies any such ambition, insisting its programme is exclusively for power generation and medical purposes. It dismisses as illegal six UN resolutions calling on it to suspend all uranium enrichment.

Three other Nam members states are also subject to Western sanctions: North Korea, over its own nuclear programme that has created bombs; Syria, over its brutal offensive against opposition groups; and Zimbabwe, over political violence and human rights abuses.

Iran, which is taking over the rotating three-year NAM presidency from Egypt, says its hosting of the summit is evidence it is not as internationally isolated.