An Iranian lawmaker says the Israeli regime will be the main loser of close ties and unity between Iran and Egypt and is hatching plots to prevent detente between the two important countries.

“Western governments are plotting against Muslim countries to undermine their unity and fan the flames of conflict and differences among them,” a member of Iran Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mohammad Hassan Asafari said on Monday.

He added that Iran is an influential country at regional and international levels while Egypt is also among important Arab states and cooperation between them will be constructive to the entire region.


The legislator highlighted the significance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s forthcoming visit to Egypt to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit, and noted that participants at the event can make major decisions to thwart enemies’ plots.

He added that the OIC summit in Cairo would be a proper opportunity to settle problems in the Muslim world and stop the ongoing conflicts in Muslim countries, particularly in Syria, Bahrain, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to pay a state visit to Egypt on February 6-7 at the official invitation of his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Morsi. Ahmadinejad will attend the 12th OIC summit and also negotiate with the Egyptian president and senior officials attending the event.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi stated that President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Cairo would play a “very effective” role in improving mutual relations.

“Egypt is under the pressure of countries providing it with economic aid such as the US and Saudi Arabia and this is why Iran’s presence in this country will be very helpful,” he added on Monday.

Boroujerdi also underlined the significance of Iran’s presence in the OIC meeting, saying that it would give an opportunity to both countries to talk about the resumption of bilateral relations.

The legislator expressed hope that the participation of the Iranian chief executive in the OIC summit would prepare the ground for bilateral cooperation in various economic, cultural, political and tourism fields.

Iran severed ties with Egypt after Cairo signed the 1978 Camp David Accord with Israel and offered asylum to Iran's deposed monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

However, the Egyptian revolution in February 2011 which led to the ouster of Egypt’s former dictator, Hosni Mubarak, caused relative thaw in relations between Tehran and Cairo.
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