Επαγγελματική επιστολή
Egypt's Islamist president-elect, Mohamed Morsi, has pledged
to strengthen ties with Iran
to build a "strategic balance in the region," according to an
interview excerpt given by Iran's
Fars news agency Monday.
"Part of my agenda is the development of ties between Iran
and Egypt that will create a strategic balance in the region," Morsi, who
comes from Egypt's long-repressed Muslim Brotherhood, was quoted as saying.
Fars, which is close to Iran's
powerful Revolutionary Guards, said the full interview would be published
later.
It said Morsi spoke with a Fars reporter in Cairo on Sunday before results were
released giving him victory in the election to be Egypt's next president.
Although Morsi resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood to take the top job, Israel
is wary of his election, fearing his Islamist record could jeopardize its
three-decade peace deal with its huge neighbor.
Any tie-up between Egypt and Iran
would alarm Israel and its ally the U.S.
Iran's foreign ministry on Sunday welcomed
Morsi's triumph. Its message made no mention, however, of Iran and Egypt resuming diplomatic ties that have
been cut since 1980, the year after Cairo signed its peace agreement with Tel
Aviv.
Iran's clerical leadership contends that the Arab
Spring that toppled veteran Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak and other longtime
U.S. allies in the Arab world last year was inspired by its own 1979 Islamic
revolution.
Although Iran's predominant faith is Shiite Islam and the
Muslim Brotherhood adheres to the Sunni branch of Islam, Tehran has been
reaching out to the organization in Egypt in recent months.
Iran's
armed forces chief of staff, General Hassan Firouzabadi, Monday was quoted by
IRNA echoing the Muslim Brotherhood's rejection of moves by Egypt's military to
dissolve the Islamist-led parliament and to give itself greater say over
government policy and the constitution.
"The actions of the military council in Egypt, which considers itself to
be selected by Mubarak, lack legal validity and political legitimacy,"
Firouzabadi said.