Ahmadinejad: Iran ready to reopen embassy in Cairo at earliest term

Dec 26, 2007, 11:01 GMT

Tehran - Iran would be ready to reopen its embassy in Cairo at the earliest term, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday on state television.

'If Egypt declared its readiness, we would even today be ready to reopen our embassy in Cairo,' Ahmadinejad said after the weekly cabinet session in Tehran.

The two Muslim countries have had no diplomatic ties since the 1979 Islamic revolution owing to Egypt's Camp David Accord with Israel in 1978.

During the eight-year presidency of Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), Tehran tried to resume full diplomatic relations with Cairo but failed to do so.

Ahmadinejad continued his predecessor's efforts saying that he would 'put the new Iranian ambassador on the next plane to Cairo' if Egypt declared its readiness to resume full diplomatic ties.

Currently the former secretary of Iran's National Security Council, Ali Larijani, is in Cairo on an unofficial visit which is believed by observers to be another effort to resume ties.

Ahmadinejad termed Iran and Egypt as the two main pillars of the Islamic world, but said there were 'still some considerations' before upgrading ties with Egypt to ambassador level.

One of the main disputes was the naming of a Tehran street after the assassin of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, which Iran later agreed to change to 'Intifada (uprising) Street' in reference to the Palestinian resistance in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

In return, Tehran wants Egypt to change the name of a street in Cairo, named after the late Iranian shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who is also buried in the al-Rifai mosque in the Egyptian capital.

Another hurdle would be Iran's stance towards Israel which Tehran does not acknowledge as a sovereign state.

Ahmadinejad and his government are also severely against any peace initiatives with Israel and rather support anti-Israeli militia groups in Palestine and Lebanon.