Iran backed in bid to protect nuclear facilities

Iran, whose nuclear facilities are under threat of possible Israeli military strikes, has enlisted the support of more than 100 nonaligned nations in its push for a ban on such attacks, documents revealed in Vienna Wednesday.

The 118-nation Nonaligned Movement backs Tehran in a letter submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency endorsing Iran's plan to submit a resolution on the topic when IAEA nations meet next month.

While Iran says the language of any resolution will be kept general, the move is clearly directed against Israel and to a lesser extent the U.S. Both nations — Israel more overtly — have not ruled out an attack as a last resort if the international community fails to persuade Tehran to freeze its nuclear activities.

Iran has defied three sets of UN Security Council sanctions aimed at pressuring it to mothball its uranium enrichment. It also is resisting an IAEA probe into reports it had drafted plans and conducted experiments for a nuclear weapons program.

Tehran insists its enrichment program is geared only toward generating fuel to produce nuclear energy, not nuclear arms.

The IAEA's 150-nation general conference convenes Sept. 14. The annual conference regularly pits Israel backed by the U.S. and other Western nations against Islamic states and other nonaligned countries seeking to censure Israel and its nuclear secrecy.

Israel is believed to possess nuclear arms but refuses to confirm or deny its status. Again this year, its rivals are pushing for conference resolutions demanding that Israel open its facilities to IAEA perusal.