SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said today that Iran should be left alone to pursue a peaceful nuclear energy program and that his own nation was close to making an atomic bomb before it voluntarily shut down its secret program in 2003.

Gadhafi’s comments came in an address to the opening session of a Non-Aligned Movement summit held at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik. Libya and Iran are members of the 118-nation movement.

He said the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — should be the judge of whether Iran is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons through its uranium enrichment program as the United States and Israel claim.

Iran denies the charges and insists its program is solely designed to generate power. But its blockade of IAEA attempts to probe its alleged nuclear weapons-related experiments have kept suspicions high.

The U.N. Security Council has levied three sets of financial sanctions against Iran for its refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment program.

Gadhafi said it was “unjust” to stop Iran from enriching uranium for peaceful purposes.

“The road that should be closed is the one turning enriched uranium into a nuclear weapon. But to close both roads? What is this? This is unjust. This is ignorance and a denial of science,” he said.

He criticized the U.N. Security Council, branding the 15-member group as a “danger” to developing nations because it is controlled by a handful of countries.

“The council is under the control of … one of the powers,” he said, apparently alluding to the United States, which has veto power, along with Russia, France, Britain and China.

“That is dangerous for international peace,” he said, vowing to demand a permanent seat with veto power for Africa when he attends the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.

Gadhafi said Libya was on the verge of producing a nuclear bomb but decided to abandon the effort because it realized it had no enemies to use it against. Although he provided no details, it was Gadhafi’s first public comment on the stage at which Libya ended its pursuit of a bomb.

His decision to abandon Libya’s nuclear and chemical weapons programs and renounce terrorism ended years of international isolation and thawed the North African country’s relations with the United States.

Gadhafi said today he had decided the program was expensive and a danger to Libya’s security. He said nations that were concerned about Libya’s programs were reassured the country “pulled back from going down that red road … and they decided to help us.”