Iranian news service says Ban Ki-moon to visit in late August for conference, despite efforts to isolate Islamic Republic

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will reportedly make his first trip to Iran later this month, despite increasing international efforts to isolate Tehran over it’s nuclear program.

Ban will visit the Islamic Republic as part of a meeting of the Non- Aligned Movement, scheduled to take place from August 26 to 31, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported Saturday.

The report quoted Iranian Vice-President Ali Saeedlou as saying the head of the world body would attend the summit.

The UN could not be immediately reached for comment or confirmation.

At a press briefing on Friday, a journalist asked Ban spokesman Martin Nesirky when the secretary general would visit Iran, but did not receive a direct answer.

The Non Aligned Movement, made up of 120 countries who were not under the direct aegis of either the US or the USSR during the Cold War, holds a governing summit once every three years.

Tehran sees the conference as a bulwark against the growing international movement to isolate it over its nuclear program, which Israel and much of the West believe is for military purposes.

Jerusalem is reportedly trying to convince capitals to boycott the summit, or only send low-level officials, Israeli daily Maariv reported last week.

On Friday, London-based daily Al-Hayat reported that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi would skip the meeting, and send his prime minister or foreign minister instead. The move was reportedly made over Tehran’s links to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has become an international pariah as he has bloodily suppressed an uprising in his country.

Among those attending the summit will be Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel, which sees a nuclear Iran as a threat to its existence, has pushed for harsh sanctions against the Islamic Republic, saying it will resort to military action if those fail.

The United Nations has maintained that diplomacy should be pursued as the best course of action, though several rounds of meetings between world powers and Iran have produced no results. (© 2012 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL 08/05/12)