Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talks to Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi (R) after his speech during the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, August 30, 2012. 
 
 DUBAI Iran has no interest in nuclear weapons but will keep pursuing peaceful nuclear energy, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told heads of state from developing countries in Tehran. 
 
 Iran, hosting a summit of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), is hoping the high-profile event will prove that Western efforts to isolate it and punish it economically for its disputed nuclear programme have failed. 
 
 "Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Khamenei told the assembled heads of state. 
 
 But discord over Syria swiftly marred the summit when Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi urged member states to support Syrians striving to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, whose staunchest regional ally is Iran. 
 
 "Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty as it is a political and strategic necessity," Mursi said, prompting a walkout by the Syrian delegation, according to the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera. 
 
 It was not immediately clear if the Syrians had returned to the meeting after Mursi's speech. 
 
 Mursi's visit to Tehran was the first by an Egyptian leader since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, but his uncompromising speech suggested there would be no swift reconciliation between the two countries after three decades of animosity. 
 
 Diplomatic relations between Cairo and Tehran broke down immediately after Iran's revolution over Egypt's support for the overthrown Shah and over its peace agreement with Israel. 
 
 The NAM summit's final declaration is set to express deep concern about the violence in Syria and support for efforts by U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to broker a resolution to the conflict, a delegate at the meeting told Reuters. 
 
 United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, attending the Tehran summit, urged Khamenei late on Wednesday to take concrete steps to prove Iran's nuclear work is peaceful. 
 
 The West suspects Iran is seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an accusation Tehran denies. 
 
 In his speech, Khamenei criticized the U.N. Security Council as an illogical, unjust and defunct relic of the past used by the United States "to impose its bullying manner on the world". 
 
 "They (Americans) talk of human rights when what they mean is Western interests. They talk of democracy when what they have is military intervention in other countries," he added. 
 
 (Reporting by Marcus George, Zahra Hosseinian and Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Alistair Lyon) ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mohammed Mursi's comments will "really have hurt", the BBC's Jon Leyne says 
 
 Egypt's president has told a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam) that the Syrian uprising is a "revolution against an oppressive regime". 
 
 Mohammed Mursi, making the first visit to Iran by an Egyptian leader since 1979, said the movement had an "ethical duty" to support the uprising. 
 
 His comments sparked a walkout by the Syrian delegation. 
 
 Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Mr Mursi's speech "incites continued bloodshed in Syria". 
 
 Egypt has been holding the rotating Nam presidency and Mr Mursi was handing the duty over to Iran during his visit. 
 
 He used his speech to tell delegates of the 120-member body: "Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty, as it is a political and strategic necessity. 
 
 Analysis President Mursi's speech in Tehran marks an important moment as he defines Egypt's new foreign policy. The new Egyptian leader has defied Washington, by going to Tehran for the Non-Aligned summit. Now he has angered the Iranian government by criticising their allies, the Syrian regime. The message is clear. Egypt intends to have a new, independent and assertive foreign policy. It is a huge contrast from the days of President Hosni Mubarak who was seen, by many Egyptians, as slavishly following the Americans. But it will also provide some reassurance to Washington, showing there is not about to be a new "Islamic axis" between the Muslim Brotherhood-led government of Egypt and the Islamic Republic of Iran. 
 
 "We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom." 
 
 He compared the anti-government movement in Syria to the Palestinians, saying they were both "actively seeking freedom, dignity and human justice", and said Egypt was "ready to work with all to stop the bloodshed". 
 
 The BBC's Iran correspondent, James Reynolds, says Tehran's hope for the summit was to show the West the Islamic Republic had plenty of friends elsewhere, but Mr Mursi's comments would certainly have upset the hosts. 
 
 However, he says not everyone in Iran would have noticed, as one Iranian state TV channel mistranslated Mr Mursi's words into Persian, giving the impression that president was actually speaking in support of the Syrian government. 
 
 Syria's delegation walked out of the conference room when Mr Mursi began speaking, Egyptian and Syrian media reported. Iranian media said they had simply left to conduct an interview. 
 
 Mr Muallem said Mr Mursi's comments "violated the traditions of the summit and are considered interference in Syrian internal affairs". 
 
 He accused Mr Mursi of "inciting continued bloodshed in Syria". 
 
 Syria's exit illustrates the strong divisions that are likely to overshadow or even dominate this summit Read more from James 
 
 Mr Mursi's visit was the first by an Egyptian leader to Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Iran cut ties with President Anwar Sadat's administration over its signing of a peace treaty with Israel. 
 
 After his speech, Mr Mursi met Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 
 
 Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the presidents had discussed bilateral ties and "emphasised the need to solve the Syria crisis via diplomacy and to prevent foreign intervention". 
 
 Mr Mursi left Tehran shortly afterwards, Iranian media said. 
 
 'Serious concerns' 
 
 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is attending the summit, said Syria was facing a long-term civil war, and warned that "those who provide arms to either side in Syria are contributing to the misery". 
 
 "The situation cannot be resolved with the blood and the bodies of more than 18,000 people and counting. There should be no more bullets and bombs. I urge all parties in the strongest possible terms to stop the violence now," he said. 
 
 Non-Aligned Movement Formed in 1961, originally an alliance of newly independent Afro-Asian states 
 
 Currently 120 members, comprising nations ostensibly unaligned with the major world powers 
 
 Aims to represent the political, economic and cultural interests of the developing world Profile: Non-Aligned Movement Syria rebels 'down fighter jet' 
 
 Mr Ban's acceptance of Tehran's invitation to the summit was described by the US State Department as "strange", but the South Korean has not shied from drawing attention to the Iran's human rights record, telling a press conference he had "serious concerns". 
 
 Nuclear disarmament is also on the agenda of the talks and in his speech to delegates on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei said that, contrary to the view held in the West, Iran was "never seeking nuclear weapons". 
 
 He said such weapons were "a major and unforgivable sin", but that Iran would "never give up the right to peaceful nuclear energy". 
 
 The ayatollah also criticised the "illogical" structure of the United Nations Security Council, saying it enabled the US to impose its "bullying manner" on the world, Reuters reports. 
 
 Mr Ban responded to the ayatollah's statement by calling on Iran to build confidence in its nuclear ambitions by co-operating fully with the Security Council over its nuclear programme. 
 
 He also rebuked Tehran for its hostility towards Israel, saying: "I strongly reject threats by any member states to destroy another or outrageous attempts to deny historical facts such as Holocaust." 
 
 However, Mr Ban's comments were also altered on Iranian state TV. 
 
 IRTV1 removed all references to Israel and the Holocaust, while rolling news channel IRINN's translation was: "I, as the secretary-general, cannot accept that threats or improper words are used in the political scene and create a situation which we cannot control." 
 
 IRINN's translation of Mr Ban's comments on the nuclear issue wrongly stated that he had noted that "the Islamic Republic of Iran's co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency has been constructive, effective and positive". ||||| Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi arrived in Tehran on Thursday in the first visit by an Egyptian leader to Iran in decades. 
 
 Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi meets with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, unseen, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. Morsi was in China on a three-day visit since... (Associated Press) 
 
 The Egyptian president was attending a summit of the Nonaligned Movement, and is supposed to transfer leadership of the 120-nation bloc to Tehran. 
 
 Iran's state TV in a live broadcast showed Morsi being received by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the summit conference hall in Tehran. 
 
 Tehran cut diplomatic relations in 1979 because of Egypt's peace accord with Israel. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has considered Israel as its arch foe. 
 
 Iran's leadership welcomed the 2011 uprising in Egypt that ultimately brought Morsi, an Islamist, to the presidency. 
 
 Representatives from more than 100 countries are attending. 
 
 Tehran has an ambitious agenda for the summit, including the launching of a peace effort including Egypt, Iran, and three other countries to help resolve the crisis in its key regional ally, Syria. But anti-regime fighters have dismissed any role for Iran in a plan they and some others say has little hope of succeeding. 
 
 Iran is also using the summit to counter U.S. claims that it has been isolated over its nuclear program. The West says Iran is trying to develop weapons while Tehran says the program is for peaceful purposes. ||||| TEHRAN — Anti-Western symbolism was rampant across Iran's capital city on Sunday as the Islamic Republic welcomed attendees of a weeklong gathering of nonaligned nations, a Cold War-era movement that Iranian officials have embraced as a counterweight to U.S.-led efforts to isolate their country. 
 
 As the sessions began, a balloon with a message hailing Iran as a "cradle of peace and justice" hovered near the site of the former U.S. Embassy, where Iranian militants held 52 people hostage almost 33 years ago. 
 
 At a major entranceway to the summit venue were arrayed three battered cars — the wrecks, officials said, of vehicles bombed to assassinate Iranian scientists. Iran blames Israel and the West for attacks that have killed at least five members of the nation's scientific community in recent years. 
 
 INTERACTIVE: Who's who of the Non-Align Movement 
 
 Security was extremely tight and authorities warned dissidents not to consider actions that might embarrass the government, despite calls for protests on social media and expatriate websites. 
 
 Authorities have declared a weeklong holiday and encouraged residents to leave Tehran to make room for the thousands of delegates from at least 118 nations scheduled to visit, according to the Foreign Ministry. 
 
 The Non-Aligned Movement traces its origins to the desire of such leaders as Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito and former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser to chart a course independent of the Eastern and Western blocs in the 1950s and '60s. 
 
 Today, Tehran sees the group as a potential bulwark against international sanctions and the possibility of an Israeli or U.S. bombing strike aimed at its nuclear development program. 
 
 The gathering is shaping up as a global stage for Iran to thumb its nose at the United States and dispute Washington's insistence that Tehran is an isolated rogue state and sponsor of terrorism. 
 
 INTERACTIVE: Who's who of the Non-Align Movement 
 
 Iran, which is assuming the rotating presidency of the group, has highlighted the anticipated attendance of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — whose office says he is coming despite a personal plea from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he stay away — and of President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt. Morsi would be the first Egyptian head of state to visit since the 1979 founding of the Islamic Republic. 
 
 Also expected to attend is India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, whose nation remains a major oil client of Iran. The foreign minister of North Korea, an ally of Tehran, arrived here Sunday, Iranian news media reported. 
 
 Meanwhile, in an apparent bid to calm a brewing controversy about competing Palestinian envoys, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has decided not to attend the conference, news agencies reported. The decision would seem to avert a potentially delicate diplomatic situation for Iran, a major backer of Hamas, a militant group. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had threatened to boycott the conference if Haniyeh attended. Abbas' Fatah faction, which governs the West Bank, and Hamas are rivals. 
 
 "Many of us are victims [of] nefarious terrorist acts," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in his opening remarks at the forum, accusing "some Western powers" of promoting terrorism. 
 
 The U.S. and Israel, however, have said Iran and its proxies have masterminded terrorist plots across the globe. 
 
 Iran's top diplomat lauded the nation's "peaceful nuclear program" and renewed Tehran's call for a "nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East," directly assailing Israel, widely believed to be the region's sole nuclear-armed nation. 
 
 Israeli and U.S. officials fear Iran is pursuing a nuclear bomb and have not ruled out a military attack to prevent Tehran from achieving weapons capability. Washington and its allies have imposed escalating economic sanctions on Tehran in a bid to force concessions on the nuclear issue. 
 
 Iran, a close ally of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, says a new peace plan for Syria is on the agenda. But few hold out hope for a breakthrough. Rebels fighting to oust Assad accuse Iran of propping up the Syrian president. 
 
 The cost of hosting the extravaganza has caused some grumbling among Tehran residents already angry about rising prices and shrinking real wages. But some Iranians have voiced support for the conference as a source of national pride. 
 
 Mostaghim is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell in Beirut contributed to this report. ||||| Iran's support is crucial for finding a resolution to the civil war in Syria, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said in his first interview with state television since taking office. 
 
 Morsi, who spoke bluntly in support of the Syrian revolution in Tehran three weeks ago, said on Saturday that Iran was "a main player in the region that could have an active and supportive role in solving the Syrian problem". 
 
 Despite Morsi's remarks at the Non-Aligned Movement summit last month, which were viewed as a stark challenge to Iran's policy of support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Egypt then invited Iran to join its Syria "contact group" of nations aiming to negotiate a solution to the Syrian crisis. 
 
 Turkey and Saudi Arabia - like Egypt - both support the Syrian rebels, and are the two other members of the quartet. 
 
 "I don't see the presence of Iran in this quartet as a problem, but is a part of solving the problem," Morsi said, explaining that Iran's close proximity to Syria and its strong ties with the government make it "vital" in resolving the crisis. "And we do not have a significant problem with Iran. It is normal like with the rest of the world's states." 
 
 The Syrian revolt erupted in March of last year, one month after the Egyptian uprising ended - over similar demands for 
 
 democracy and freedom. But unlike Mubarak, who quit after only 18 days of protest, Assad sent his military to crush the revolt, leading the rebels to take arms against him and prompting violent battles that have been going on for 18 months. 
 
 On Sunday, Syrian aircraft carried out strikes on rebel bastions across the country, especially in central Homs province and Deir Ezzor in the east, a watchdog said, as 31 people were killed nationwide. 
 
 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said apartment blocks in Abu Kamal were targeted as rebels and soldiers battled on the ground in several districts of the town on the Iraqi border. 
 
 "The insurgents are trying to wrest control of this strategic town" in the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor as well as the nearby Hamdan military airport, said the group's head, Rami Abdel Rahman. 
 
 Later on Sunday, a blast reportedly occurred on Victoria Bridge in between the National Museum and the Four Seasons Hotel in central Damascus, injuring two people. 
 
 The United Nations says nearly 20,000 people have been killed in the conflict and more than 235,000 Syrian refugees 
 
 have registered in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, while about 1.2 million people have been displaced within Syria. 
 
 Turkey deploys heavy weapons 
 
 
 
 Rebels and non-government groups of various stripes control much of the Syrian countryside, especially along the porous Turkish border in the north. 
 
 Though they have failed to wrest control of Damascus from Assad's forces and are locked in a tough battle for Aleppo, the country's largest city, they move freely outside urban areas. 
 
 The rebels have grown confident enough in their autonomy that Riad al-Asad, the self-proclaimed commander of the Free Syrian Army - a loose term for various rebel groups - announced on Saturday that he had moved the FSA headquarters into Syria. 
 
 Iran's foreign minister visited Assad earlier this month, and acknowledged sending military advisers [Reuters] 
 
 Aerial superiority is the only force keeping Assad's government afloat, a rebel colonel claimed to the AFP news agency. 
 
 "With or without outside help, the fall of the regime is a question of months, not years," said Colonel Ahmed Abdel Wahab, who said that he commanded a brigade of 850 fighters. 
 
 "If we had anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, we could quickly gain the advantage," he said, speaking in the village of Atma near the Syrian border with Turkey. 
 
 "But if foreign countries don't give us these, we will still win. It will take longer, that's all. We control most of the country. In most regions, the soldiers are prisoners of their barracks. They go out very little and we can move freely everywhere, except Damascus." 
 
 But small-arms battles and government shelling continue in pockets of fighting in the north, and Turkey's military deployed armoured vehicles and heavy weaponary to the border on Saturday, near a crossing that has seen intense clashes, local media said. 
 
 The deployment is reportedly in an area where earlier this week Turkish civilians were wounded when stray bullets and 
 
 shelling crossed the border from the Syrian province of al-Raqqa. 
 
 CNN Turk television said artillery fire had landed close to the Turkish border overnight, causing panic among local residents. 
 
 The Turkish army moved three Howitzers and one anti-aircraft weapon to the border, the channel said. 
 
 Nearly 80 per cent of towns and villages along the Turkish border are outside the control of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 
 
 'Securing liberated areas' 
 
 Asad announced the FSA's headquarters move in a video message from Syria, the first since the group founded its command centre in Turkey at the beginning of the conflict. 
 
 "To the Syrian people, its freedom fighters and all the armed factions, we are glad to let you know that the leadership of the FSA has moved into Syria following arrangements made with other brigades that included securing liberated areas with the hope of launching the offensive on Damascus," Asad said. 
 
 He said the FSA has felt pressure by the international community to take a leading role in post-war Syria. Asad said the FSA rejected those offers, reiterating that the people of Syria should decide the future of the country. 
 
 "Since we left our country, we suffered all sorts of regional and international interference and political pressure. We were isolated. Their goal was to have the FSA replace Assad once he is gone, but we categorically made it clear that we would never betray our people reiterating that only the Syrians should decide their future institutions." 
 
 Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Akcakale on the Turkey-Syria border, said the rebels had been cautiously edging forward, taking territory 5km inside Syria. 
 
 "The move of the command centre is not necessarily a massive breakthrough because the FSA is still very much dependent on Turkey for its supply lines," he said.
– Egypt's new president arrived in Iran today for a historic visit, the AP reports—and he promptly sparked a walkout at the Nonaligned Movement Summit. Mohamed Morsi, the first Egyptian leader to visit Iran since Tehran cut diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1979 over its peace treaty with Israel, praised the Syrian rebels—thus angering the Syrian delegation, which left the meeting. Morsi called the Syrian uprising a "revolution against an oppressive regime," the BBC reports, and called for the Nonaligned Movement to support it. More from the summit: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose presence at the summit is bugging the US, met with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday to ask that Iran, one of the Syrian regime's last remaining allies, try to get the Syrian government to end the violence. But Khamenei insists the government should continue to be armed while the rebels should have no weapons, reports the AP. Khamenei also insisted Iran is not interested in developing nuclear weapons, but will continue to pursue nuclear energy, Reuters reports. "Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Khamenei said, calling nuclear weapons "a major and unforgivable sin." But the Wall Street Journal reports that an Iranian scientist considered to be a nuclear weapons guru a la Robert Oppenheimer has resurfaced after a few years off the job. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is back at work, UN investigators find, prompting more concern over Iran's nuclear agenda. Fakhrizadeh's work had been frozen in 2006; he is believed to be running a nuclear weapons-minded research facility in the suburbs of Tehran.