Before Khamenei's speech, the families of the assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists were seated in the front row, holding photos of the victims. Equally effective was the organizers' decision to give all NAM delegations free access to the Natanz nuclear facility where uranium enrichment is taking place.
Khamanei said nothing about the conflict in Syria, which has claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 civilians and 8,000 members of the security forces. He failed to refer even to his government's proposal for a three-month truce between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the rebels as a preamble to talks between the warring sides, which had secured the backing of 30 states three weeks earlier at the Tehran Consultative Conference on Syria
President Mohamed Morsi, popularly elected president of Egypt since June, exploited this chink in Khamenei's armor.
Asserting that the world had a "moral duty" to support Syria's rebels, Morsi said, "Our solidarity with the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is... a political and strategic necessity." He called on Iran to participate in a four-member contact group including Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia - all three being Sunni states - to mediate an end to the Syrian crisis. He left out Iraq, where the popularly elected government is led by Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, who famously described himself as Shia first and Iraqi second. Morsi's pro-Sunni bias was unmistaken.
But before Iran could officially respond to his proposal, Syrian rebels summarily rejected Iran's participation in any peace efforts. So, too, did the United States, which two months earlier had threatened to boycott the meeting called by Kofi Annan, the UN's special envoy on Syria, in Geneva if Iran were invited to attend.
The Obama administration doesn't share Ban's view that Tehran has a key role in ending Syria's civil war. In the upcoming US presidential contest, Barack Obama faces Republican Mitt Romney, who agrees with Israel's plans to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. Given this, Obama is unlikely to soften his hostility toward Iran.
Ban used his speech to prove that his diplomatic integrity wasn't compromised by participation in the NAM summit, describing Iran's verbal threats against Israel and its denial of the Holocaust as "outrageous." During interaction with students and teachers at Tehran's School of International Relations, he urged Iran's top officials to release opposition leaders and political activists to create a level playing field before the presidential poll next year.
In meetings with Khamenei and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ban said that Iran should comply with IAEA and UN Security Council resolutions and do more to assure the world that their nuclear program was for peaceful purposes. Ban was referring to the latest IAEA report noting that Iran failed to give inspectors access to a site at Parchin, southeast of Tehran, believed to be a facility for testing high explosives.
Iran's behavior is open to different interpretations: It intends to keep Western opponents guessing about its capabilities, a strategy that has served it well so far. Or its policymakers think that, when the West is waging economic and diplomatic war against their nation, cooperating more than what's absolutely essential with the IAEA could be construed as weakness
With the NAM summit unanimously supporting Iran's right to enriching uranium, its leaders do not want to be seen as weaklings. At the very least, they estimate that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be forced to rethink his plan to stage air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, openly opposed not only by Israel's former and serving defense and intelligence chiefs, but also Obama.
