EGYPT: An Iranian in Cairo
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
What was Ali Larijani, a representative of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, doing in Cairo? Was Iran’s former nuclear negotiator just visiting the pyramids with his family, or was there more to his visit than that?
Many saw the visit as an attempt at healing the long-standing rift between Iran and major Arab powers. Although Larijani was ostensibly on a private trip with his family to Egypt, he seized the opportunity to hold talks with powerful Egyptian officials.
The visit came on the heels of a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, released this month, that concluded that Iran had ended a secret nuclear weapons program in 2003. Many Egyptian observers expect the report to encourage Iran to play a stronger role in the region and build new diplomatic ties with major Arab powers, namely Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Larijani met with the head of Egypt’s intelligence services, Omar Suleiman, as well as the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. Larijani also hobnobbed with the grand sheik of Al Azhar, the oldest Sunni institution in the Muslim world. Rumors swirled that Larijani might meet with President Hosni Mubarak, but he wound up meeting only Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
According to the local press, Larijani discussed the big headaches that are destabilizing the region, including the Iraqi and Palestinian conflicts.
Diplomatic relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Egypt have been broken since 1980 after Egypt recognized Israel and hosted ousted Iranian Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who is buried in Cairo. Iranian authorities further enraged Egyptians by naming a street in Tehran after the man who assassinated Anwar Sadat.
The two countries don’t share full relations, maintaining tiny interests sections in each other’s capitals. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated repeatedly that Iran is ready to restore full diplomatic ties.
After the release of the U.S. report, there seem to be better prospects for the defusing of tensions between the two countries. Arab world commentators hope that any warming of Egyptian-Iranian relations could help end deadlocks in countries like Lebanon, which has become a battleground for pro-U.S. Arabs and Iran.
But observers sympathetic to Israel see nothing good coming out of engaging Iran while it insists on pursuing its enrichment of uranium. Emanuele Ottolenghi, a blogger at the conservative Commentary magazine, writes that Iran is abusing diplomacy to buy time for its nuclear ambitions:
The NIE says very clearly that Iran was busy building a nuclear weapon in 2003. That was not the time of Mahdi-believing isolationist hardliners like current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It was the height of Western engagement with Tehran, when Mohammad Khatami, then president of Iran, was promoting his ‘dialogue of civilizations’ — while building a nuke under cover. If that is what engagement was yielding in 2003, what exactly is the evidence that engagement today would yield more positive results?
Others disagree. A piece in the Media Line, a centrist nonprofit news organization, says the promise of Egypt’s embrace could coax Iran back toward a mainstream path:
If the Egyptians begin a dialogue with the Iranians, this could serve the interests of the U.S. Egypt wants to be a powerful broker in the Middle East and in improving its relations with Iran, Cairo could help the U.S. pressure Tehran into abandoning its nuclear program. From Iran’s point of view, establishing full diplomatic relations with Egypt could help allay fears in the Arab world that Iran is seeking Shi’ite domination in the Middle East.
Still, Egypt and Iran seem reluctant to announce the renewal of full-fledged diplomatic ties soon.
‘Talks and meetings are continuing between the two countries, but we must not rush this question,’ Larijani said, according to local media.
Egyptians struck a similar tone. The spokesman of Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, Hossam Zaki, told news agencies earlier this week that security and regional issues still blocked rapprochement. ‘Progress must be made on this before a resumption of relations,’ Zaki said.
— Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo and Borzou Daragahi in Beirut