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Non-Aligned Movement

Written by: Leila Heydari Bateni Translated by: Hadi Qorbanyar
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The Non-Aligned Movement is an international organization founded in 1961 by developing countries, initially hosted in Yugoslavia. Iran joined the Movement after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. With the outbreak of the imposed war by Iraq against Iran, the Non-Aligned Movement, despite its mediation efforts, failed to take a decisive stance against the aggressor and merely called for a ceasefire and condemned the war in general.

The emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement can be traced back to the discourse of non-commitment to the Eastern and Western blocs at the Bandung Conference, held in Indonesia's capital in 1955. The founders of this idea were Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India; Gamal Abdel Nasser, leader of Egypt; Zhou Enlai, Prime Minister of China; Marshal Tito, President of Yugoslavia; Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana; and Ahmed Sukarno, President of Indonesia. At the Bandung Conference, the ten principles of the movement were outlined and established as its main objectives. Due to disagreements between two influential members, China and India, the conference did not yield the expected result. In 1961, the first Non-Aligned Conference was held in Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, with 25 founding members and three observer members.^[1]

With the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the major obstacle to joining the Non-Aligned Movement—the Pahlavi regime’s dependence on the Western bloc and the capitalist system—was removed, and the Islamic Republic of Iran became a member. It participated in the movement’s conference in Havana, the capital of Cuba, in 1979.^[2]

With the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War on 22 September 1980, the leaders of Non-Aligned countries, through negotiations with both sides, were tasked with addressing the war issue by holding a foreign ministers’ meeting in Belgrade.^[3] However, Iraq’s opposition to Algeria’s presence made reaching an immediate and mutually acceptable solution difficult. Iraq not only viewed the movement’s intervention in the war negatively but also regarded Algeria’s involvement in a conflict involving another Arab country as interference, whereas it did not object to the presence of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was also an Arab entity.^[4]

As Iraqi attacks intensified and Iran requested the Non-Aligned Movement to take a position on the war, the Non-Aligned Movement’s Goodwill Committee became active in late 1980 to mediate and establish a ceasefire. Subsequently, representatives of the governments of Cuba, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Zambia, India, Pakistan, and the Palestine Liberation Organization were dispatched to Iran and Iraq.^[5] Iran’s Prime Minister at the time, Muhammad-Ali Rajai, stated in a note to the Yugoslav leader: As long as Iraqi forces do not withdraw from Iranian soil, no ceasefire proposal will be acceptable. In his view, the committee’s efforts to identify the aggressor were unclear, and he stressed that their visits had been fruitless and that the war’s outcome should be determined on the battlefields.^[6] Furthermore, on October 27, 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr, Iran’s president at the time, wrote to the heads of Non-Aligned countries, describing Iraq’s claims of seeking a peaceful resolution and alleging Iranian occupation of Iraqi territory as outright lies. Rajai, in an interview with Yugoslav television, criticized the member states’ stance on the war. In a meeting with the representative of India’s prime minister, he also said: “There are two paths to peace. One is for us to accept the shame of submitting to aggression. The other is for the aggressor to return to the pre-aggression situation and be tried in international forums... We are now pursuing the second path...”. Rajai called on India to condemn the aggressor.^[7]

In December 1980, the Islamic Republic’s representative at the Non-Aligned summit in New York criticized the movement’s three-month silence and called for Iraq’s condemnation, but the summit leaders showed no reaction.^[8]

At the foreign ministers’ meeting of the movement held in early 1981 in New Delhi, the capital of India, despite opposition from the Indian government—which viewed raising the issue as weakening the Non-Aligned Movement and considered the Iraq-Iran war a domestic dispute—Iran’s representative, Behzad Nabavi, urged the movement to take an active approach to the war. He demanded condemnation of Iraq’s aggression, withdrawal of invading forces from Iran, and suspension of Iraq’s membership in the movement. However, the movement’s leaders took no firm position against the aggressor and merely issued a statement expressing regret.^[9]

On May 10, 1981, the Non-Aligned Countries’ Peace Committee (foreign ministers of Cuba, India, Zambia, the political director of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its representative at the United Nations) arrived in Tehran and presented proposals including separation of the warring forces, creation of a demilitarized zone, and deployment of observers with guarantees. However, due to the committee leaders’ unclear positions on resolving disputes and identifying the aggressor, the talks yielded no results.^[10]

During the third visit of the Non-Aligned Movement’s Goodwill Committee to Iran on August 6, 1981, the committee members, in a meeting with Muhammad-Ali Rajai, the president at the time, expressed concern over the continuation of the war and its impact on regional countries and global peace. They believed that prolonging the war would give foreign powers an excuse to enter and remain permanently in the region. They called for flexibility from both sides to reach an understanding and, recalling the movement’s charter while acknowledging their lack of authority to identify the aggressor, sought an honorable and just end to the war. The president, adhering to the Islamic Republic’s political approach, insisted on identifying and expelling the aggressor and deemed the Goodwill Committee’s visits ineffective as long as the Iraqi government did not abide by the movement’s first principle that “no country should occupy another country’s territory by force”.^[11]

Hosting the seventh summit of the movement in Baghdad in 1982 was one of the most important foreign policy issues for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Accordingly, special diplomatic efforts were underway to prevent it. The Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that if the summit were held in Iraq—an act contrary to the movement’s principles—Iran would neither attend the summit nor recognize Iraq’s rotational presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement. In 1982, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, president at the time wrote to Fidel Castro, leader of Cuba and chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, requesting the cancellation of Iraq’s hosting.^[12] On the other hand, Iraq took steps to secure the hosting, such as constructing a building for the summit, preparing a draft final statement in three languages, and raising the flags of member countries in Baghdad. In response, Iran conducted airstrikes that placed Baghdad in a new situation. Iranian pilots, including Abbas Doran, by bombing Iraqi refineries, breaking the sound barrier over Baghdad, and targeting the summit venue building, not only made Baghdad unsafe but also thwarted Saddam Hussein’s bid for the three-year presidency of the movement. Therefore, the seventh conference was held in New Delhi instead of Baghdad.^[13]

On February 21, 1984, Ayatollah Khamenei, in a letter to Indira Gandhi, India’s president and chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, criticized the movement’s stance. He called for a review of the movement’s positions on issues such as Iraqi missile attacks and use of chemical weapons, urged going beyond mere ceasefire calls, and sought greater solidarity among members.^[14]

On September 2, 1986, Ayatollah Khamenei attended the eighth summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, as the representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran. While criticizing the movement’s positions, he reminded participants of the responsibility of international organizations and forums and explained the Islamic Republic’s peace-seeking policies.^[15] At this summit, Iran and Iraq were asked to end the war. For the first time, by consensus, the Non-Aligned Movement expressed deep regret over the start and continuation of the war, censured Iraq for initiating it, and called for its swift termination.^[16]

Ayatollah Khamenei, president at the time, in a letter dated April 20, 1987, to the movement’s chairman (prime minister of Zimbabwe), pointed out Iraq’s repeated violations of international treaties and asked for greater efforts to prevent the continuation of war crimes and the use of chemical weapons. A similar letter was sent to Zimbabwe’s prime minister on March 9, 1988.^[17] A few months later, Saadoun Hammadi, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, censured the Non-Aligned Movement for its inability to advance global peace and called it ineffective. He asked the Indian government to use its influence in the movement to end the war.^[18]

After accepting UN Security Council Resolution 598 in July 1988, the Islamic Republic of Iran participated in the foreign ministers’ meeting of Non-Aligned countries held in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. The imposed war was one of the topics discussed in the summit’s political committee. The ministers expressed satisfaction with the start of negotiations between the two countries.^[19]

During the imposed war of Iraq against Iran, the Non-Aligned Movement, apart from sending numerous delegations and similar actions, took no fundamental or substantial measures.^[20] Despite the Islamic Republic’s extensive efforts to identify the aggressor, the movement’s most significant activities—holding various meetings, mediation, condemning the war, and hoping for its end—remained limited to issuing statements.^[21]

The Non-Aligned Movement conference has been held every three years since its establishment. In 2008, Iran hosted the fifteenth foreign ministers’ meeting of member countries. This meeting facilitated the acceptance of the Islamic Republic’s hosting of the sixteenth summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in August 2012.^[22]

 

^[1] Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod (The Non-Aligned Movement), Daftar-e Motaleat-e Siasi va Beyn al-Melali, Tehran: Edare-ye Nashr-e Vezarat-e Omur-e Kharejeh, 1394, p. 7; Iran va Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod be Revayat-e Asnad (Iran and the Non-Aligned Movement in Official Documents), zir-e nazar-e Muhammad Sheikhan, Markaz-e Pazhuhesh-e Sanjesh va Asnad-e Riyasat-e Jomhuri, Tehran: Jomhur-e Eslami-ye Iran, 1391, Pp. h and z.

^[2] Yekta, Hussain, Ruzshomar-e Jang-e Iran va Araq, ketab-e dovvom: Bohran dar Khuzestan (Chronology of Iran-Iraq War, Chapter Two: Crisis in Khuzestan), Tehran: Markaz-e Motaleat va Tahqiqat-e Jang, 1377, p. 158.

^[3] Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod (The Non-Aligned Movement), p. 29.

^[4] Ibid., p. 286.

^[5] Velayati, Ali-Akbar, Tarikh-e Siasi-ye Jang-e Tahmili-ye Araq Alayh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran (The Political History of the Iran-Iraq War), Tehran: Farhang-e Eslami, 1376, Pp. 90–91.

^[6] Izadi, Yadollah, Ruzshomar-e Jang-e Iran va Araq, ketab-e panzdahom: Shekastan-e Mohasere-ye Abadan (Chronology of Iran-Iraq War, Chapter Fifteen: Breaking the Siege of Abadan), Tehran: Markaz-e Asnad va Tahqiqat-e Defa Muqaddas, p. 461; Velayati, Ali-Akbar, Tarikh-e Siasi-ye Jang-e Tahmili-ye Araq Alayh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran (The Political History of the Iran-Iraq War), p. 91; Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod (The Non-Aligned Movement), p. 287.

^[7] Ruzshomar-e Jang-e Iran va Iraq, ketab-e panjom: Hoveyzeh, Akharin Gamha-ye Eshghalgar (Chronology of Iran-Iraq War, Chapter Five: Hoveyzeh, the Last Steps of the Aggressor), Tehran: Markaz-e Asnad va Tahqiqat-e Defa Muqaddas, 1373, Pp. 27–28, 97.

^[8] Velayati, Ali-Akbar, Tarikh-e Siasi-ye Jang-e Tahmili-ye Araq Alayh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran (The Political History of the Iran-Iraq War), p. 91.

^[9] Ibid., p. 94; Iran va Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod be Revayat-e Asnad (Iran and the Non-Aligned Movement in Official Documents), Pp. 333–334.

^[10] Rafsanjani, Yaser, Obur az Bohran (Overcoming the Crisis), Tehran: Maaref-e Enqelab, 1378, p. 106; Iran va Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod be Revayat-e Asnad (Iran and the Non-Aligned Movement in Official Documents), p. 173.

^[11] Iran va Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod be Revayat-e Asnad (Iran and the Non-Aligned Movement in Official Documents), Pp. 176–180.

^[12] Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod (The Non-Aligned Movement), Pp. 289–290.

^[13] Ibid., p. 288.

^[14] Iran va Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod be Revayat-e Asnad (Iran and the Non-Aligned Movement in Official Documents), Pp. 279–280.

^[15] Az Harareh ta Tehran (From Harareh to Tehran), Tehran: Moassese-ye Farhangi Honari-ye Iman-e Jehadi, 1393, Pp. 141–158.

^[16] Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod (The Non-Aligned Movement), p. 149.

^[17] Iran va Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod be Revayat-e Asnad (Iran and the Non-Aligned Movement in Official Documents), Pp. 313–315.

^[18] Izadi, Yadollah, Ruzshomar-e Jang-e Iran va Araq, ketab-e panjah-o-chaharom: Amaliyat-e Valfajr 10 (Chronology of Iran-Iraq War, Chapter Fifty-Four: Operation Valfajr 10), Tehran: Markaz-e Asnad va Tahqiqat-e Defa Muqaddas-e Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami, 1392, p. 501.

^[19] Iran va Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod be Revayat-e Asnad (Iran and the Non-Aligned Movement in Official Documents), p. 336.

^[20] Velayati, Ali-Akbar, Tarikh-e Siasi-ye Jang-e Tahmili-ye Araq Alayh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran (The Political History of the Iran-Iraq War), Pp. 94–95.

^[21] Az Harareh ta Tehran (From Harareh to Tehran), p. 145.

^[22] Jonbesh-e Adam-e Taahhod (The Non-Aligned Movement), Pp. 236–294.