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Report: Nonaligned bloc backs Iran nuclear energy

01 September 2012 01:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A summit of emerging nations in Tehran issued a declaration Friday supporting Iranâ€™s right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, the countryâ€™s state television reported, APA reports quoting Associated Press.

The broadcast said support for Iranâ€™s nuclear energy program was one of many articles approved by the final declaration at the end of the two-day meeting of the 120-nation Nonaligned Movement.

The U.S. and its allies have accused Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the claims.

Iran has been seeking to win support from the bloc, accounting for nearly two-thirds of U.N. member states, for its nuclear program. Tehran has used the summit to show that U.S.-led efforts to isolate it have failed.

It was not immediately clear from the television broadcast whether the wording of the declaration backed Iranâ€™s claims that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, or whether the text simply asserted a general right to produce nuclear energy.

The declaration was approved a day after the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Iran has effectively shut down a probe of Parchin military site in southeast Tehran where Iran is suspected of carrying out explosive tests related to a nuclear-weapon trigger.