Michael Purcell: Egypt's overtures to Iran could be start of something big

IT IS a diplomatic dalliance between the two most powerful and populous nations in the Middle East, but neither appear quite ready to take the plunge into a full relationship.

A resumption of formal ties between Iran and Egypt after a 31-year-old rupture could have wide-reaching repercussions on the region's delicate balance of power.

Tehran's state-run Press TV reported on Monday that Iran had appointed an ambassador to Cairo and named him as Ali Akbar Sibuyeh, a career diplomat who is the son of a senior cleric.

Iran's foreign ministry yesterday declined to confirm the report, saying it was "hasty" and "guesswork".

But it maintained that developing relations with Egypt was in the interests of both countries and the wider region.

Egypt's foreign ministry also denied reports that an Iranian ambassador to Cairo had been appointed.

Earlier this month, however, Egypt's new foreign minister, Nabil Elaraby, said Cairo did not consider Tehran as an enemy and would open "a new page with all countries, including Iran".

Key to an historic breakthrough will be the resolution of a long dispute over a street name and a ten-metre-high mural in the heart of Tehran's business district which celebrates Khaled Islambouli.

He was the ringleader of the assassins who gunned down the Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, in October 1981, three years after Sadat signed the Arab world's first peace treaty with Israel.

"It is not clear if this issue has been resolved, or whether Egypt's new government will put up with the offensive street name not being changed," a European former ambassador to Iran said.

Tehran severed ties with Egypt a year after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution in protest at Cairo's recognition of Israel.

A rapprochement between Iran and Egypt is likely to concern other pro-western Arab countries, unnerve Israel and dismay the United States.

Egypt under Hosni Mubarak was viscerally mistrustful of Iran and valued by the United States and Saudi Arabia as a Sunni bulwark against the Shiite Islamic republic.

The European former ambassador said it is little known that Mr Mubarak's regime maintained high-level diplomacy with Iran that stopped just short of normal relations."The US will have to swallow much more serious difficulties because of the likelihood that public opinion in the new Egypt will tell much more on relations between Cairo and Israel," he said.

Egyptian foreign ministry officials said on Monday that Mr Elaraby is considering a visit to the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, which is supported by Iran but was cold-shouldered by Mr Mubarak's administration.

Mr Elaraby also stoked Israeli concerns earlier this month by describing Hezbollah as part of Lebanon's political and social fabric, and saying that Egypt welcomed contacts with the Iranian-backed Lebanese organisation.

And Cairo's outreach under its transitional new government has extended to Syria, a key Iranian ally and historic enemy of Israel.

By recalibrating its foreign policy, while maintaining a good but more balanced relationship with America, Cairo aims to regain its position as the region's main power broker.

Central to the new Egypt's foreign policy ambitions will be a resolution of the Palestinian issue, which would be immensely popular with the Egyptian public.