Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said there resides no major impediment to the resumption of ties between Iran and Egypt, adding that Tehran and Cairo are determined to boost mutual cooperation.
The chief lawmaker also reminded that both Iranian and Egyptian officials believe that the two countries’ cooperation would serve the interests of Tehran, Cairo and the entire Muslim world.
“There has merely remained some insignificant issues which could be solved, but a solution of which requires time, and we will try to move in this direction.
“I always say that the context and atmosphere of relations have improved and that there is a good prospect (awaiting the two sides’ relations),” the top legislator said.
Asked if the United States plays a negative role in the normalization of ties between Iran and Egypt, he said, “There is no doubt that the US is opposed to the unity of the Muslim world. But Egyptian President Mr. Hosni Mubarak has explicitly rejected the US influence (in this regard) and said that he would not yield to the US pressures.”
Asked if the name of a street in Tehran which honors former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s assassin, Khaled el-Islambouli, should still be viewed as an impediment to the restoration of Iran-Egypt relations, the speaker said, “The issue is solvable. This is one of the issues under discussion but it is not an important issue.”
Islambouli was one of the army officers who killed Sadat during a military parade in 1981. Egypt executed him by firing squad soon thereafter.
Tehran cut diplomatic ties after Cairo signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979 and provided asylum for the deposed Iranian king, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
