Vienna, Austria ? Western countries pushed Tuesday for broad support on the need for Iran to freeze uranium enrichment, but nonaligned countries backed Tehran, saying all countries have the right to pursue a nuclear program for civilian use.

A statement drawn up by the 16-nation nonaligned bloc at the board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency “reaffirmed the basic and inalienable right” of all countries to develop, produce and use atomic energy “for peaceful purposes, without any discrimination and in conformity with their respective legal obligations.”

The statement – made available to The Associated Press ahead of delivery when Iran comes up on the agenda later in the week – was mostly a repetition of a communique issued last month at a meeting in Malaysia of the nonaligned bloc’s foreign ministers.

Iran says it has a right to enrich uranium for purposes of generating electricity under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The United States and its allies assert the claim is a cover for attempts to develop a weapons program using highly enriched uranium in the core of nuclear warheads.