(28 Aug 2012) Egypt has transferred the leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement to Iran, which is seeking to rebuild the Cold War-era group into a greater voice against Western influence.
Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister Ramzi Ezzeldin Ramzi formally gave Iran the rotating presidency of the 120-nation group Tuesday.
Iran is currently hosting a week-long gathering of the 51-year-old movement, which ends on Friday.
"I would like to express my profound appreciation to your excellencies for honouring the invitation to come to Tehran to participate in this summit," Iran's Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, told delegates.
Iran has a far-reaching agenda for the summit, including trying to launch a peace effort for Syria with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Syrian rebels are likely to reject any bids by Iran, which is a close ally of President Bashar Assad.
Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad, said delegates had shown "good support" for his country.
"I think what we have achieved in the final document (of the Non-Aligned Movement summit) is very positive, it's very good. And we have full condemnation of the sanctions imposed against Syria by the West and by some other countries," he added.
Mekdad warned other nations not to support Syrian rebels, who he called "terrorists".
"Any support by any foreign country of the terrorists in Syria is absolutely condemned and we tell them that once you support terrorism in Syria it will come back to your own country. Stop it!"
Damascus routinely singles out Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar as the rebels' main foreign backers.
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