CAIRO: Egypt has temporarily suspended commercial flights to and from Iran until mid-June, days after the first such flight in 34 years between the countries provoked protests from hardline Sunni Islamists in Cairo. On April 5, scores of Islamist demonstrators on Friday attacked the house of the Iranian chargé d'affaires in Cairo's Masr al-Gedida, chanting slogans against Iran and the Shia doctrine. Television footage showed scores of bearded men hurling stones and fireworks at the house amid the absence of security as several demonstrators sprayed phrases offending Shiites on the walls of the house. Scores of Salafis gathered at the house of the chargé d'affaires to voice their rejection for the Egyptian-Iranian rapprochement during the past few months, al-Masry al-Youm Portal reported. Salafi parties and figures criticized allowing Iranian tourists to visit Egypt for the first time since ties between the two countries were severed in 1979, citing their fear of spreading the Shia doctrine in the country. Egypt's first direct flight to Iran took off March 30 from the Cairo International Airport to Tehran. It was the first flight to connect the two countries in 34 years. Privately-owned Air Memphis plane is the first direct flight between Egypt and Iran since ties were severed after the latter's 1979 Islamic revolution. BN
