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Iran Seeks Friends to Fight Sanctions
(Independent-UK) Katherine Butler - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei told an international conference on nuclear disarmament in Tehran that America was the world's "only atomic criminal." The two-day meeting was dismissed as a childish attempt to rival Obama's 47-nation conference on nuclear disarmament last week. Such heavyweights as Turkmenistan, Guinea-Conakry and Swaziland were on the guest list. All 27 members of the EU snubbed the conference, but permanent UN Security Council members Russia and China were represented. So were non-permanent Security Council members including Uganda, Turkey and Lebanon, all of whom are openly opposed to sanctions. The meeting ended with calls for a complete overhaul of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and for Israel's alleged nuclear weapons to be brought under a UN inspection regime. This is potentially significant: next month 200 nations will gather in New York to review the NPT. The Iranian strategy will be to force a treaty overhaul which spells out the rights of signatories to run civilian nuclear programs including the right to enrich uranium.