Futility of Iranian-Egyptian cooperation

Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 7 / Trend /

Trend Arabic News Service head Rufiz Hafizoglu

The 12th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) may still be in process, but some important moments have already occurred at the summit.

The bloody clashes in Syria, the Palestinian problem and ways of solving problems faced by the Islamic world are being discussed at the summit.

Not only issues on the agenda, but also the future of the Iranian-Egyptian relations are under discussion.

At a press conference held immediately after a meeting with Egyptian counterpart Mohammed Mursi, the Iranian president said that the cooperation between Cairo and Tehran will serve the welfare of the region's population and that cooperation is inevitable.

Ahmadinejad stressed that he sees the strengthening of Egypt as the strengthening of Iran and that some external forces want to prevent cooperation between the two countries.

Iran's president called conflicting parties in Syria to dialogue.

It should be noted that during Ahmadinejad's visit, the leaders of Egypt, Iran and Turkey discussed the Syrian issue.

The trilateral meeting of the heads of state means the realization of the proposal to solve the Syrian crisis put forward by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) held in Azerbaijan last year.

Details of the meeting between the heads of state are unknown, but given the situation in Syria, it can be said that this meeting will be ineffective in terms of settling the crisis, as the settlement of the Syrian crisis is impossible if Russia's interests are not taken into consideration.

Iran is not interested in Egypt's active role in resolving the Syrian crisis.

Tehran's concern is understandable, given the connection between political forces in the countries where there "Arab Spring" took place, and the "Muslim Brotherhood" organization and restoration of relations with the organization by the U.S. officials.

This concern is not only due to political gain of Egypt, but also formation of ideological "Ikhwan Crescent" in the region, which has a religious basis. Of course, these facts can not escape from Tehran, conducting a cautious policy in the region.

But, despite all this, Iran's president has stressed interest in cooperation with Egypt in the economic sphere.

In his statement, President Ahmadinejad stressed that ten million tourists from Iran annually visit various countries.

He added that he would like for some of these tourists to visit Egypt.

In an interview with the Egyptian newspaper "Al-Ahram", Iran's president said that the country's imports gradually increases and Tehran can provide Cairo with a loan.

It seems that Iran's president's proposal can be considered by Egypt which is faced with significant economic difficulties after the recent revolution, as beneficial. But Iran's proposal and promise to provide a loan are not as attractive to Egypt as it may seem for the simple reason that after obtaining an Iranian loan, Egypt will lose the financial support of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Also, the restoration of relations with Iran is not well supported by Egypt.

While citing diplomatic sources, a number of Arabic media outlets reported that Egypt will not show interest in the restoration of relations with Iran. According to diplomatic sources, Egyptian officials fear that Iran will exploit the unstable political and economic situation in Egypt and begin spreading Shiism there. Moreover, the strengthening of Iranian-Egyptian relations is not welcomed by Salafis in the country.

In the future, relations between Tehran and Cairo can improve, but it is impossible to expand these relations in ways which disturb Israel.

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