Presidential meetings with top Gulf officials aim to keep Egypt informed on security developments in the volatile region, Dina Ezzat reports In less than five days President Hosni Mubarak will have met top officials from Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In Cairo, on Saturday and Sunday, Mubarak received Speaker for the Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. On Sunday, Mubarak took off on a three-leg tour that starts in Abu Dhabi then on to Riyadh and Kuwait. The meetings, according to officials on all sides, focus primarily on regional security developments especially in the Gulf area. Egypt, concerned officials say, is not particularly confident about stability in the Gulf. While a serious stand-off between Iran and the West seems unlikely to turn into a military confrontation, according to the Egyptian assessment, the security situation in Iraq is giving Cairo serious cause for concern. Egypt, officials argue, is keen, despite its scepticism over the nature of the close association between the government of Al-Maliki and Iran, to see Iraq steer clear from slipping back into the tough years of daily bombings and massive killings of civilians as in 2005 and 2006. Following the Mubarak-Maliki talks, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that Egypt was "standing by the side of Iraq" in the face of all security hiccups "stirred by those who want to bring this government down". During his talks with Mubarak on Sunday, and the long session he held with Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif on Saturday, Al-Maliki received reassurances that Cairo was willing to continue with its training programmes for Iraqi police and army officers. Intelligence cooperation was also reaffirmed during Al-Maliki's encounters with his Egyptian interlocutors. As Iraq tries to regain its security independence, argued one Egyptian official who asked his name be withheld, it is crucial for Egypt and other Arab countries to reach out to Iraq. This, he added, serves two purposes: to help the Iraqi government keep Iraq safe and unified; and to underline the Arab association with and of Iraq. Iraq's security was a subject on the agenda of talks between Mubarak and Larijani. The speaker of the Iranian parliament, to judge by his own statements at the presidential headquarters in Heliopolis on Saturday, affirmed to Mubarak that news of a recent Iranian military intervention in neighbouring Iraq was "exaggerated by the media" and that it ended promptly. According to Egyptian officials informed with the course of the Mubarak-Larijani talks, Mubarak was not short on firm statements on the need for Iran to refrain from perpetuating instability in Iraq. The same officials indicated that Mubarak told his Iranian guest that Iran's posture over Iraq would influence "considerably" Egypt's future decisions on relations with Iran. Egyptian-Iranian relations have been severed for three decades and Iranian overtures to re-establish full diplomatic ties with Egypt have been coerced by what Egyptian security apparatus qualify as "Iran's intervention in the internal affairs" of Egypt and other Arab countries, especially the Arab Gulf states with a considerable Shia majority and even a minority. This Egyptian concern was raised during several Egyptian-Iranian meetings at many levels. The Mubarak-Larijani encounter was no exception. Larijani, according to his statement following the meeting with Mubarak, promised no major shift of attitudes, at least not in two main areas of interest to Egypt: Gaza and Lebanon. Larijani told reporters in no uncertain terms that Iran would continue to support Hamas in Gaza and Hizbullah in Lebanon. "Iran will continue to support Hamas and Hizbullah because they stand up to Israel," he stated. What Larijani qualifies as support is perceived in Cairo as intervention aimed at deconstructing the diplomatic attempts by Cairo and other US Arab allies to promote dialogue with no resistance against Israel. Furthermore, Larijani, in his press statements following the Mubarak meeting, declined to acknowledge any direct support for Yemen rebels who are being fought by the Sanaa government on the borders with Saudi Arabia. Larijani blamed "the intervention of our brothers in Saudi Arabia" for the current military confrontation between the army regime and the Shia rebels. Saudi Arabia has blamed the military unrest in Yemen on Iranian intervention in support of the rebels. This position is supported by Egypt. The situation in Yemen will definitely be on the agenda of the talks between Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian officials say. Developments in Iraq and Arab relations with Iran will also be on the agenda of Mubarak's talks in Riyadh as well as in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait.
