By Amir Taheri
According to Iranian media, the Non-Aligned Movement [NAM] summit cost Tehran around $600 million. Taking into account production losses incurred by a week of martial law, the cost could be higher.
What did the investment bring for the organizers?
The conference had one key objective and two subsidiary goals.
Let us deal with the subsidiary goals first.
One was to show that, despite five United Nations Security Council resolutions against it, the Islamic Republic was not isolated. The second was to mobilize support for Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad.
Neither goal was achieved.