CAIRO: Egypt's Foreign Ministry summoned Iran's diplomatic representative in Cairo on Tuesday over anti-Egypt protests in Tehran, which also led to the recall of the Egyptian envoy from the Iranian capital. In a statement released by the ministry Tuesday, Egypt pointed out its objection to the protests - the last of which occurred on Monday - outside the Egypt interests section in Tehran over the blockade of Gaza. The demonstration involving hundreds of students was against perceived Egyptian involvement in the Gaza siege, with its refusal to open the Rafah border crossing for Palestinians in the strip. The demonstrators accused Egypt of cooperating with Israel by keeping the crossing closed and refusing to allow humanitarian convoys from reaching the besieged strip. As a result of the demonstration, Egypt recalled its envoy from Iran on Wednesday despite assurances from Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi that the Egyptian interests' office was secured against any threat. The Foreign Ministry also criticized in its statement certain Iranian newspapers, without naming them, for continuously criticizing Egyptian policies and leadership. A Foreign Ministry official told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper that Egypt did not pay credence to such protests, which seemed at odds to the Egyptian reaction. "The students' slogans are nonsense. Egypt and its leadership are much bigger than such matters. We know that there are pressure groups within Iran that are against the normalization of Egyptian-Iranian relations, he said. As Egypt and Iran do not have formal diplomatic relations, there are no embassies as such, but rather quasi-diplomatic offices to attend to any bilateral cooperation. Iran cut off formal diplomatic ties with Egypt in 1980 in protest over its recognition of Israel. Relations have always been fraught between the two nations, but there seemed to have been some progress made in the last year, with visits between high-ranking officials of the two countries. However, last July Egypt again called Iranian envoys to the foreign ministry to protest the screening of an Iranian film about the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat, which Egypt decried as insulting the relations between the two countries.
