Egypt's Islamist president-elect, Mohamed
Morsi, has pledged to strengthen ties with Iranto 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.