As the UN General Assembly opens in New York, Iran is lobbying for support from other Islamic states and its anti-American allies in the Non-Aligned Movement in a contest with Japan for a seat that becomes vacant in January.
The slot, one among the council’s 10 non-permanent members, is currently occupied by Indonesia and is reserved for an Asian nation.
Mohamed Khaza’e, Tehran’s top envoy at the UN, was dismissive of Japan’s pitch for what would be its 10th two-year stint on the council. Last week he told state-run Iranian radio that Tokyo “does not play a significant role in international and political affairs” and should step aside.
He noted that some 140 nations have either never sat on the Security Council, or have been a member just once – as Iran was under the Shah in 1955-56, more than two decades before the country’s Islamic revolution.
In the increasingly bitter battle before the whole UN General Assembly votes in mid-October on the replacement for Indonesia, Iranian diplomats have been quietly briefing that Japan is merely a stooge of the US.
