Iran will never develop a nuclear bomb but will not give up its pursuit of peaceful nuclear energy, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a gathering of leaders of developing countries meeting in Tehran (Reuters).
"Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Khamenei told the Non-Aligned Movement summit. "Iran will never pursue nuclear weapons but it will not give up its national right to peaceful nuclear energy," he added.
Iran wants to use its hosting of the high-level 120-nation gathering to push back against attempts by the United States to isolate it politically and economically over its atomic activities.
The West suspects Iran's nuclear program is focused on developing a nuclear bomb, an accusation dismissed by Tehran.
Late on Wednesday, visiting United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - also present at Thursday's speech - told Khamenei to take concrete steps to prove the country's nuclear program was peaceful.
Khamenei's at times abrasive speech on Thursday also took aim at the U.N. Security Council, describing it as illogical, unjust and defunct relic of the past that the United States uses "to impose their bullying manner on the world".
"They (the United States) 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.
Television footage before the speech showed Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in discussion with Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi - the first Egyptian leader to visit Iran since its Islamic Revolution in 1979.
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