By Khaled Dawoud
July 1, Deutsche Presse - Accusations of treason and betrayal traded
by Iranian officials over the past 20 years against their Egyptian counterparts
are now being replaced with words of praise and an expression by both sides
of a serious desire to mend ties.
Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, in recent statements, confirmed the
tendency towards improving relations with Iran which severed political
ties with Egypt shortly after the Islamic Revolution led by the late Ayatollah
Khomeini in 1979.
He added that Iran was no longer seeking to ``export its revolution''
or intervening in its neighbour's internal affairs in a way which threatened
regional security.
However, Mubarak indicated that Cairo was not in a hurry and that it
would wait until the domestic battle in Iran between moderates led by Iranian
President Mohamed Khatami and the influential hardliners in power and parliament
settled down.
An Iranian official who visited Egypt recently to take part in an Islamic
conference told reporters that ``everyone in the Iranian leadership from
top to bottom is in favour in restoring ties between Egypt and Iran''.
Mohamed Sadeq Al-Husseini, advisor to the Iranian minister of culture,
added that one of President Khatami's key goals is to improve ties with
all Arab countries, particularly its Arab Gulf neighbours ``in order to
serve our joint interests and not to open the door for foreign powers to
intervene in our affairs.''
He added that Teheran had also refrained from its attacks against the
Algerian government following the election of President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika
in April and his pledge to reach a reconciliation with extremists fighting
to overthrow the secular, army-backed Algerian regime.
Signs of improvement in Egyptian- Iranian relations followed a statement
by Iranian parliament speaker, Ali Nateq Nouri, a month ago in which he
said that his government was ready to remove the name of a main street
in Teheran called after Khaled El-Islambouli, an army officer who led the
assassination of late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.
Nouri, who met with Egyptian parliamentarians taking part in a conference
in Teheran and is considered a hardliner, said that the restoration of
ties with Cairo was far more important than the name of a street.
After late Ayatollah Khomeini took over power, declaring the United
States and Israel as the Islamic world's main enemies, Iran severed diplomatic
ties with Egypt to protest its 1979 peace agreement with Israel.
Teheran was also furious that the late Sadat agreed to provide refuge
for the deposed Iranian Shah, Reda Pahlavi, and that when he died, the
Shah was buried following an official funeral in one of Cairo's main mosques.
Thus, when Sadat was assassinated by Moslem extremists, Teheran declared
his killer a ``hero''.
Following Nouri's statement on the government's readiness to remove
the name of Islambouli street, hardliners demonstrated in Teheran and placed
a huge painting of Sadat's killer at the same street.
But Egyptian officials played down the incident and said that they were
aware that it did not represent the stand of the Iranian government. Ansar
Hizbullah, the hardline Iranian group which placed Islambouli's painting,
said that it will continue its campaign to keep the street's name.
Another main obstacle which continue to delay the official resumption
of diplomatic ties between Egypt and Iran besides Islambouli's street,
is Teheran's territorial dispute with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over
three Gulf islands, an Egyptian diplomatic source told the German Press
Agency.
In an unprecedented recent visit to Tehran, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah
did not raise the issue of the three Gulf islands in his talks with Iranian
officials, angering UAE officials and threatening for the first time the
unity of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Egypt maintains strong ties with the UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin
Sultan Al-Nahyan and has been calling on Tehran to start talks with Abu
Dhabi over the three islands instead of issuing statements claiming they
were an ``integral part of Iranian territory.''
``We can do a lot with Iran if they sought a settlement for the territorial
dispute with UAE,'' the Egyptian diplomatic source said.
With the election of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on May 17, the
stalled peace process is expected to start moving again. Lessening Iranian
opposition to the peace process between the Arabs and Israel will definitely
benefit both sides, the source added.
One on hand, moderate President Khatami can proceed with his tendency
to improve Iran 's ties with the West, including the United States. On
the other hand, radical extremist groups in the region, also opposing the
peace process, will be deprived from the backing of a key ally.
Abdel-Azim Hammad, a columnist at the Egyptian pro-government daily
Al-Ahram, said that maintaining close ties between Egypt and Iran will
also help both sides in coordinating their stands in any possible future
talks on disarmement in the region, particularly in relation to weapons
of mass destruction.
``So far, Israel is the only country in the region which is reported
to have advanced weapons of mass destruction and even nuclear arms. Therefore,
coordanation between Egypt and Iran will be very important in case of any
future talks on disarmament because they can provide backing for each other,''
Hammad added.
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