Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeks strategic axis with Egypt
Iran says Egyptian tourists, merchants will no longer require visas to visit
Cairo: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on the first visit to Cairo by an Iranian leader in more than three decades, called for a strategic alliance with Egypt and said he had offered the cash-strapped Arab state a loan.
The effort drew a cool response, however. Shi’ite Islamist Iran is still looked on with suspicion by many in Egypt, a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation. Points of contention include Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its policies elsewhere in the Arab world.
The two countries have not restored diplomatic ties since Egypt overthrew its long term leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but its first Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, gave Ahmadinejad a red-carpet welcome on Tuesday to a summit of Islamic nations.
He had earlier reassured Gulf Arab countries that Egypt would not sacrifice their security.
In the Arab world, throwing a shoe is a serious insult.
He did not say if there had been any response.
Ahmadinejad said there had been scant progress on restoring ties between the two countries.
One persistent obstacle to ties in Cairo’s eyes was the naming of a street in Tehran after an Egyptian Islamist militant who led the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat, who signed the treaty with Israel.
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