Tehran Ready for Expanding Ties With Cairo: Official

Tehran, Feb 21, IRNA – Islamic Republic of Iran is ready for imediate expansion of relations with Egypt, Head of Iran's Interest Section in Egypt Mojtaba Amani said in Cairo Friday. He made the remark in an interview with local 'Life' TV channel. Amani stressed that Iran is ready for all-out cooperation with Egypt and noted there have been some talks on resuming Iran-Egypt relations 'immediately'. Iran would re-open its embassy provided that the Egyptian officials' response would be positive, he added. “There have been lots of joint stands between Iran and Egypt before the fall of the ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, like the need for nuclear disarmamaent in the region and establishment of a government in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and after the popular revolution in this country the number of such joint stands have increased drastically,” the official noted. The Head of Iran's interests section in Egypt underlined that Mubarak impeded the development of relations between the two countries under the pretext of worthless issues, such as the name of a street in Tehran and the Shi'a issue. “Tehran is keen to facilitate economic relations between Iran and Egypt, including the exchange of tourists,” the official continued. Pointing to the Iranophobia atmosphere created by the western propaganda machine, Amani named the US and some other countries as obstacles in the way of improvement of relations between Tehran and Cairo. He noted that resuming Tehran-Cairo relations can be a natural result of the Egyptian revolution, predicting that full restoration of political relations would take place in very near future. Pointing out that restoration of bilateral relations is in need of changes in laws, he said, 'The Iranians are not permitted to enter Egypt and thus far no decision has been made in this respect; how can we talk about Iran's investment possibilities, but ignore the fact that the Iranians are still not permitted to enter Egypt?' Announcing Iran's readiness for comprehensive cooperation with Egypt, he said, 'In addition to the former Iranian investments in Egypt, such as the Iran-Egypt Bank, a naval shipping company, and a textile factory, there is a state organization in charge of facilitating the country's foreign investments, and this is in need of gaining the approval of the Egyptian side.' Amani spoke about the Iranian nation's interest in visiting Egypt, arguing, 'If the two countries' relations would resume some five thousand Iranian tourists would be visiting the Egyptian historic monuments each day.' He rejected the mentality that has a security approach towards the Iranian tourists, saying that 'The present day security conditions in Egypt would be no obstacle for the Iranian tourists, as they have got used to such conditions and for instance, despite lack of full security in Iraq they often visit that country.' He added, 'When the former Egyptian foreign minister spoke of close stands of Tehran and Cairo in some fields some countries seriously threatened Egypt. Referring to the Iranophobia approach induced by certain countries, the Iranian interest section official said, 'Such remarks are an insult against the Egyptian nation. We have broad economic ties with the UAE and there are 32 flights between the two countries on a daily basis.' /end