SALON

Tuesday, Sep 18, 2012 5:45 PM UTC

Egypt: Iran’s support for Syria hinders relations

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Egypt: Iran's support for Syria hinders relationsForeign ministers from three of the four-nation “Islamic Quartet" gather for the first time for dialogue on Syria’s civil war, in an initiative launched by Egypt's new Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, at the foreign ministry in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Sept. 17, 2012. Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, left, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, center left, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, right, met late Monday. Notably absent is Saudi’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who is recovering from abdominal surgery. (AP Photo/Sami Wahib)(Credit: AP)

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi warned Iran’s foreign minister on Tuesday that better relations between the two Mideast heavyweights are being hindered by Tehran’s support for Syria’s regime.

The promise of greater rapprochement with Egypt is part of a package of incentives and efforts by Morsi to lure Iran, Syria’s staunchest regional ally, away from Damascus and find an end to the bloodshed.

The two were meeting in Cairo as part of a Morsi-sponsored Syria peace initiative dubbed the “Islamic Quartet,” bringing together Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt — all supporters of the Syrian rebellion — with Iran.

Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said that Morsi told the Iranian minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, in their meeting in Cairo that as president he cannot ignore public sentiment in Egypt, which is against the Syrian regime “that uses harsh language and violence against people.”

The Egyptian leader delivered a similar message in person to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran during a meeting last month. He warned that Iran must end its support for Assad in order to prevent any chance of Western intervention in Syria.

It was also the first time that an Egyptian leader had visited Iran in decades. While in Tehran, Morsi delivered a stinging rebuke of the Syrian regime during a speech at an international gathering of so-called nonaligned nations.

Tehran cut ties with Cairo following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Morsi has since moved to amend relations with Iran following his win in Egypt’s first free presidential elections over the summer. Egypt’s 2011 uprising, which ushered in those elections, helped spark Syria’s own upheaval.

It remains highly unlikely that Iran would abandon Syrian President Bashar Assad as long as there is a chance for him — or at least the core of his regime — to hang on. Iran counts on Syria as a strategic outlet to the Mediterranean and a conduit to its anti-Israeli proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Recently, a top commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said Tehran had sent advisers to Lebanon and Syria, the clearest indication to date of Iran’s direct assistance to Damascus.

Egyptian officials close to the presidency say Morsi has offered a package of incentives for Tehran to back off of its support to Assad, including the restoration of full diplomatic ties and efforts toward reconciliation with wealthy Gulf nations — a significant diplomatic prize for the Islamic Republic, especially as it comes under mounting pressure over its disputed nuclear program.

Sentiment is strong among Egyptians against Assad, whose regime they hold primarily responsible for an 18-month conflict in which 23,000 people have been killed, according to activists.

In a separate meeting in Cairo, the Iranian foreign minister told Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby that “gradual change (in Syria) is better than sudden change,” according to diplomats there.

A day earlier, after having dinner with Elaraby, the U.N. envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and other foreign ministers, Salehi told reporters that the “the solution in Syria should be a Syrian solution,” not “imposed from the outside.”

The dinner followed the first meeting of foreign ministers from the Islamic Quartet initiative launched by the Egyptian president last month.

More Aya Batrawy.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations