Iran distances itself from Sadat film

Jul 9, 2008, 6:52 GMT

Tehran - Iran on Wednesday distanced itself from a documentary film on the assassination of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, saying the film had nothing to do with the Iranian government, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Iran's state television network aired a documentary film called Assassination of the Pharaoh, which glorified Sadat's assassin Khaled al-Islamboli and portrayed him as a martyr who killed a traitor.

'The producers of the film were from the non-governmental and private sector, and the film was in line with freedom of expression in Iran, but the contents of the film have nothing to do with the official stance of Tehran,' an unnamed official from the Foreign Ministry told IRNA.

'The official Iranian position is reflected by Iranian officials. Our relations with Cairo are based on respect, friendship and brotherhood and we do not pay attention to Western press reports trying to tarnish this,' the official added.

The broadcast of the film angered the relatives of the late Egyptian president, who even called on the Egyptian government to take legal action against Iran.

Despite efforts in the last 10 years by both President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his predecessor Mohammad Khatami to resume full diplomatic relations with Egypt, the government in Cairo has been hesitant to do so.

Especially Ahmadinejad is very eager to upgrade bilateral ties and several times stressed that if Egypt agreed to normalize diplomatic relations 'today,' Iran would send an ambassador to Cairo 'tomorrow.'

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

One of the main disputes between the two states was the naming of a Tehran street after Sadat's assassin, which Iran later agreed to change to Intifada (uprising) Street in reference to the Palestinian resistance in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

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