Deputy FM: Iran-Egypt Enemies Opposed to Improvement of Bilateral Ties
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The prospects of improved ties between Iran and Egypt can put at stake the interests of both nations’ enemies who are doing their best to keep the two major Islamic countries apart, an Iranian deputy foreign minister said on Sunday.
“The rapprochement between the Iranians and the Egyptians will come at the expense of the two nations’ enemies, and therefore their efforts are aimed at poisoning the atmosphere of Iran-Egypt relations,” deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs,Hossein Amir Abdollahian, said in a meeting with a visiting delegation of Egyptian people.
The 40 member delegation of Egyptians from different walks of life arrived in Tehran on Tuesday in a bid to strengthen bilateral relations.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister said that Egypt’s January 25 Revolution marked the border between dictatorship and democracy, stressing that the process towards democracy should not be disrupted.
Some members of the Egyptian delegation said their nation will make every effort to safeguard the achievements of their January 25 Revolution, including the establishment of democracy, Egypt’s independence, and opposing the expansionist policies of Israel.
They stressed the need for improvement of relations with the Islamic Republic and expressed their pleasure with the nuclear deal signed between Iran and six major world powers in Geneva last month.
They also said that the Egyptian nation believes it is necessary for the Zionist regime to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The Egyptian delegation is scheduled to meet with the representatives of Iranian political and NGO groups and elaborate on the developments after the Egyptian revolution and the later unrests that led to the army's toppling of Mohammed Mursi, the democratically elected president of Egypt and drafting of a new constitution.
A member of the delegation, Al-Khouli had said before coming to Iran that the Egyptian delegation would also focus on the need for good relations between Iran and the Persian Gulf states aimed at encountering the hegemonic plots hatched by the Americans and Zionists.
Iran cut off its diplomatic ties with Egypt after the 1979 Islamic Revolution because Cairo had signed the 1978 Camp David Accords with the Israeli regime and offered asylum to its deposed monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Bilateral relations, however, have been on the mend following the 2011 Egyptian revolution that resulted in the ouster of the country’s dictator, Hosni Mubarak.
In August 2012, Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi visited Iran to attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). This was the first visit of an Egyptian president to Iran in more than three decades.
The former Iranian president, too, traveled to Egypt in February 2013 to attend the 12th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). He was the first Iranian president to visit the Arab country in 34 years.
In March 2013, direct flights between two countries were reinstated.
Also, in July 2013, after the bloody counter-revolution by the military junta under the de facto leadership of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the acting foreign minister of the interim government Nabil Fahmy announced that Egypt seeks stable and positive ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran.