Iran's leader seeks closer ties with Egypt

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi (R) greets Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Turkish President Abdullah Gul look on before meeting at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Cairo Feb 6, 2013.[Photo/Agencies]

Ahmadinejad arrives in Cairo for summit.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on the first visit to Cairo by an Iranian leader in more than three decades, called for a strategic alliance with Egypt and said he had offered the cash-strapped Arab state a loan but got a cool response.

Ahmadinejad said outside forces were trying to prevent a rapprochement between the Middle East's two most populous nations, at odds since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and Egypt's signing of a peace treaty with Israel in the same year.

"We must all understand that the only option is to set up this alliance because it is in the interests of the Egyptian and Iranian peoples and other nations of the region," the official MENA news agency quoted him as saying in remarks to Egyptian journalists published on Wednesday.

The two countries have not had diplomatic ties since Egypt overthrew its long-time leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but its first Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, gave Ahmadinejad a red-carpet welcome on Tuesday to a summit of Islamic nations.

"There are those striving to prevent these two great countries from coming together despite the fact that the region's problems require this meeting, especially the Palestinian question," Ahmadinejad said.

He said his country is ready to provide a "big credit line" to help revive the distressed economy of Egypt, which saw its foreign currency reserves - already at critically low levels - fall nearly 10 percent last month.

Egypt's foreign minister played down the significance of the visit, telling Reuters the Iranian leader, one of several heads of state to get the red-carpet treatment, was in Cairo chiefly for the Islamic summit that began on Wednesday, "so it's just a normal procedure. That's all".

He had earlier reassured Gulf Arab countries that Egypt would not sacrifice their security.

Egypt's leading Sunni Muslim scholar scolded Ahmadinejad on Tuesday when he visited the historic al-Azhar mosque and university over Teheran's attitude to its Gulf Arab neighbors and attempts to spread Shiite influence in Sunni countries.

In his meeting with Egyptian reporters, MENA said Ahmadinejad denied accusations Iran was interfering in Bahrain, where a Shiite majority lives under minority Sunni rule.

Three Egyptians and a Syrian were detained on suspicion of trying to attack the Iranian president at another mosque, security sources said. They were held overnight but released on bail of 500 Egyptian pounds ($75) each on Wednesday.

Video footage shot by a Turkish cameraman appeared to show a bearded man twice trying to throw a shoe at Ahmadinejad as he was mobbed by well-wishers while leaving the Hussein mosque.

The president was not hit but was hustled to his car by security men. Ahmadinejad stopped to wave before he was driven away.

The security sources said the three Egyptians held were all members of the al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, a hard-line Islamist group that took up arms against the state in the 1990s but has moved into mainstream politics since Mubarak was toppled.

In the Arab world, throwing a shoe is a serious insult. An Iraqi journalist hurled a shoe at then-US president George W Bush during a news conference in Baghdad in 2008, forcing Bush to duck to avoid being hit.

Al-Ahram daily quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in an interview that Iran had offered to lend money to Egypt despite being under international economic sanctions over its nuclear program.

"I have said previously that we can offer a big credit line to the Egyptian brothers, and many services," he said. He did not say if there had been any response.

The president said the Iranian economy had been affected by sanctions but it is a "great economy" that was witnessing "positive matters", saying exports were increasing gradually.

Cairo summit

Heads of state from across the Islamic world will meet in Cairo on Wednesday to tackle crises that include Syria's civil war and the battle against Islamist militants in Mali, with their sharp differences expected to be laid bare.

Syria will not be represented at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit even though much of the debate is expected to be focused on the conflict that has ravaged that country for almost 23 months, leaving tens of thousands dead.

The meeting will gather leaders of 26 of the OIC's 57 states, with Egypt's first Islamist Morsi assuming the organization's rotating presidency.

The gathering will call for "serious dialogue" between the Syrian opposition and government officials "not directly involved in oppression" according to a draft resolution obtained by AFP.

The call for dialogue, drafted by foreign ministers after two days of preparatory meetings, will add pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to respond to a surprise offer of talks by Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, leader of the opposition National Coalition.

The document stresses the need to maintain "Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty", while underlining that "the main responsibility for the continued violence falls on the Syrian government".

A meeting is scheduled between Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia - members of a quartet dealing with Syria - on the sidelines of the summit.