Egypt and Iran have not been able to normalise relations, and Iranian regional ambitions may mean that they will not be able to do so, writes Salah Hemeid During a tour of the Arab Gulf last week, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit renewed his country's concern over Iran's mounting influence in the region and reiterated that Egypt will stand by its brethren in the Gulf against any threats to their security. His spokesman, Hossam Zaki, was later quoted by Al-Ahram daily when attending an international security forum in Bahrain focussing on Iran to the effect that Egypt would not "stay idle and will come to the defence of the Gulf countries against any threats." Neither Abul-Gheit nor Zaki mentioned Iran, and it is unclear what has prompted the latest Egyptian warnings to Iran or if Iran was on Abul-Gheit's Gulf agenda. Yet, in recent months Egypt has repeatedly accused Iran of attempts to expand in areas such as the Gulf, Iraq, Yemen and the Horn of Africa, all considered by Egypt as vital to its national security. Historically, the two Muslim nations have had a complex relationship. Under the monarchy, Egyptian-Iranian relations were at their best, and the shah of Iran, Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, even married Egyptian King Farouk's sister Fawzia before the royal couple divorced. Under president Gamal Abdel-Nasser's revolutionary government, bilateral relations deteriorated because of regional rivalry between the pro-West Shah and Nasser's pan-Arab anti- imperialist regime. Relations improved during Anwar El-Sadat's presidency, before plummeting with the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and Egypt's support to Iraq in the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war under President Hosni Mubarak's rule. The two countries broke diplomatic ties in 1979, after Cairo allowed the late shah to seek sanctuary in Egypt, where he was later buried beside Egypt's last king. Since then, the two countries have maintained low-level diplomatic representation, but efforts to restore full relations have stalled over wide-ranging differences. Last week, troubled Iranian-Egyptian relations were the main topic of discussions organised by the Al-Ahram Foundation, where experts spent a full day trying to fathom the reasons behind the ongoing conflict between the two Muslim nations and explore possibilities for a rapprochement. While participants agreed that the two countries have many things in common that should cause them to mend fences in the interests of their peoples and the region at large, they differed on who should take the first step in such a badly needed reconciliation. Mustafa El-Feki, head of the Egyptian parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, described Iranian-Arab relations in general as "unsound", attributing this to an Iranian "tendency for hegemony" and "Persian national aspirations". Yet El-Feki rejected an Arab school of thought that equates what it calls the "Iranian threat" to that posed by Israel. "It is true that Iran poses a danger, but this cannot be compared to the danger implanted in the heart of the Arab world," he said, referring to Israel. El-Feki said it was inevitable that the two Muslim nations would restore full diplomatic ties, but "not before the two accept the national interests of each other in the region". The only party which benefits from this division is "the enemy of the Muslim and Arab nation," he said. Mustafa El-Labbad, an Iran expert, said Iran was becoming "a regional player that no one can ignore," suggesting that improving Iranian- Arab relations was a worthy investment that both nations should make. Many other participants warned that Iran was increasingly interfering in Arab affairs, and that the Arabs should not restore full ties before Iran dropped its current policy of regional expansion and interference in Arab affairs. There have been a wide range of issues that have blocked the rapprochement. On top of these, there is deep mistrust and disagreement over several regional issues, such as the Arab- Israeli conflict, Iraq, Lebanon and Gulf security. For example, while Egypt has signed a peace treaty with Israel and plays a key mediation role in the Middle East peace talks, Iran feels Arab- Israeli peace is a danger to its national interests and opposes negotiations with Israel. To Iran, Egypt's efforts to bring about peace in the region, and its encouragement of the Palestinians and other Arab countries to follow its path with Israel, threaten to deprive Tehran of the single most potent regional issue that it can exploit to further its radical agenda. Therefore, Iran seeks to undermine prospects for peace, and, along with its clients such as Hamas and Hizbullah, it believes the way to do this is by undermining Egypt. Nothing better demonstrates the Iranian threat to Egypt's national security than Tehran's special relations with the Palestinian radical movement Hamas, which has imposed its rule on the Gaza Strip. Cairo believes that by extending its influence to Gaza, next door to Egypt, Tehran has strengthened its bargaining position. The battle for competing regional influence also extends to Iraq and Lebanon, where Iran has been building a power base among the Shias in these two Arab countries. Egyptian officials have not spelled out a strategy to face up to Iran's role in Iraq, but they have said that Cairo is determined to bring Iraq back into the Arab fold. Next week, Cairo will receive Iraq's Shia Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki on his second official visit to Egypt since he took office in 2006. The move is apparently designed to help Al-Maliki break Iraq's isolation so that Iraq's Shia-led government does not become an Iranian stooge. As for Lebanon, Egypt is also moving to upgrade its relations with the new government of Saad Al-Hariri in an attempt to strengthen the anti-Iranian camp in Lebanon. Like many other Arab countries, Egypt is worried about Iran's interference in Lebanon, which Tehran is using to bolster its regional influence. Similarly, Egypt's security interests in the Gulf, and its traditional role as a force for regional stability, present a clear obstacle to Iran's wider regional ambitions. Also like other Arab countries, Egypt is concerned that any US rapprochement with Iran could ultimately lead to a nuclear-armed, non- Arab, and Shia superpower expanding its influence further in the region. Egypt fears that the offer of an improvement in US-Iran ties held out by US President Barack Obama could go too far, offering concessions to a powerful regional player long regarded with suspicion. Egypt, the cultural and theological centre of Sunni Islam, is worried about reports that Iran might be encouraging the spread of Shiism in Egypt and in some other Arab countries. All these issues go to the heart of Iranian- Egyptian relations and raise questions as to whether the two nations will be able to patch up their differences. At present, a spirit of conciliatory pragmatism is missing in efforts to end the continued stalemate, and it might be missing for some time to come.
