President Hosni Mubarak described the Persian Gulf region as Egypt's "strategic depth," representing "an integral component of Egyptian national security." In comments to the Emirates News Agency on Wednesday, Mubarak added that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates "always consult and coordinate with one another on Arab issues and issues pertaining to regional security." In an interview with Qatari newspaper Al-Sharq last week, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit had warned Iran against interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq, Lebanon and the Gulf States, and of using these states as leverage in Tehran's confrontation with western powers. Iran later denounced Abul Gheit's remarks, advising the Egyptian FM to focus on Egypt's security rather than aggravating differences among Muslim countries. In a related development, classified documents revealed by whistle-blower website Wikileaks quoted an Egyptian security official as saying that Egypt would continue to recruit agents in Iran to carry out intelligence operations if Tehran continued to insist on "interfering in Egypt's internal affairs," as the official put it. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
