Lawmaker seethes as Iran prepares to host 120 'non-aligned' countries

The chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday blasted a group of 120 developing nations as Iran prepares to take the helm of the Cold War-era Non-Aligned Movement at a summit in Isfahan.

The movement was founded in 1961 by international leaders reluctant to side with the United States or the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Aug. 30-31 meeting comes as the Obama administration has been leading international efforts to isolate Iran and get it to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons program; it could spark a showdown between the United States and countries that have long been critical of U.S. foreign policy.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, for example, is scheduled to attend the meeting, the Press Trust of India news agency reported Tuesday. India is one of 20 countries that have been exempted from recent U.S. sanctions on foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran’s central bank and is under pressure from the Obama administration to curtail its oil imports from Iran. Four other exempted countries – Singapore, South Africa, Malaysia and Sri Lanka – are also members of the Non-Aligned Movement, while China is an observer.

“Once again, the so-called ‘Non-Aligned Movement’ reveals itself to be very much aligned with anti-American rogue regimes, including its upcoming head, Iran, and former heads like the Castro brothers’ Cuba and Mugabe’s Zimbabwe," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said in a statement. "Apparently, at the NAM, sponsoring violent extremism and pursuing illicit nuclear weapons capabilities is an asset, not a black mark."

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