File photo: Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi, President-elect of Egypt
According to Fars News Agency (03JUN14):
Egypt's President-Elect Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has invited Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to attend his swearing-in ceremony in the coming days.
Al-Sisi's invitation letter was submitted by Head of Egypt's Interests Section in Tehran Khalid al-Said Ibrahim Amari to President Rouhani's Chief of Staff Mohammad Nahavandian in a meeting in the Iranian capital on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Nahavandian pointed to the Iranian and Egyptian nations' historical and cultural ties, and said, "Both nations enjoy prominent positions in the Muslim world"Iran's regional foreign relations appear to be on a roll, what with the recent landmark visit by the Emir of Kuwait, the invitation of Foreign Minister Zarif to Saudi Arabia (yesterday declined due to a scheduling conflict with nuclear talks in Vienna), and now an invite for the Iranian president to attend the inauguration of Egypt's president-elect.
Will be interesting to see if Rouhani accepts the invitation and attends the ceremony.
13 comments:
Only A Nation with a crazy foreign policy can pretend to isolate Iran !.
an opportunity which can not be missed by Iranian
It looks like another military tinpot dictatorship has taken shape in North Africa.
Great, El-Sisi joins the club of so called good dictators! The democracy that brought Moselm Brotherhood to power did not wholeheartedly supported the west - so this dictator will do just fine. if not better!
yes, some countries have military tinpot dictatorships instead of Iran's dictatorship of backward-thinking religious fundamentalmidgets
this is why we deplore the West hypocrisy on democracy !! .
Hail the Persian SAGE of our time Leader Khamenei for seeing through the West evil and selective application of their democracy-
Tell me again, Rouhani's invitation by Sisi, who is leading the harshest and cruelest anti-Islamist campaign in Egyptian history, proves Khamenei's profound wisdom? Khamenei's press office might contact you soon to stop supporting the leader!
5:12PM
It's all good as long as he keeps the Islamist fundamentalists at bay. A socialist or nationalist leader/regime is always better than the current Iranian model of governance.
Both Anon 7:18 PM and 12:17 PM 100 PERCENT AGREE !
Only "SAGE" I like is in sausages :o)
Sisi is particularly opposed to Iranian machinations and the Egyptians have no love for Iran.
this is a pro-forma invitation and Rouhani might not be allowed to attend should be ask for permission.
100% agree too, except that unfortunately Sisi is not a true nationalist and certainly not anything remotely close to a socialist. Just another despot "elected" with over 80% vote, African banana republic style, and trying to look different than his predecessor while in reality equally obedient to the very same governing classes and their associated foreign patrons as his brethren in pre-Morsi era. I'm looking forward to see his rule evolve over the coming year and the inevitable deception that it will bring with itself just like it did with Morsi and his non-existent social policies.
If by "Egyptians" you mean the average citizen then you should know that they actually have a lot of sympathy towards Iranians, and even some unfortunate, misplaced appreciation of fiery characters like former president Ahmadinejad and his infamous anti-US/Israel diatribes which contrasts with what they've been used to at home, such as the usual, unconditionally submissive stances of their post-Nasser leaders whenever it comes to Washington's authority over their country's foreign policy.
What you say applies for their governing class however, it is true and this with reason that they must be extra cautious about involving the Iranian government in anything directly related to middle eastern policy where their areas of convergence (creating strategic parity with Israel or lobbying for a nuclear-free mid-east) are at least equal in scope to areas of direct regional competition (Iran's link with Shiite factions in Iraq, Syria or Lebanon, come to mind obviously, among others)
Subsequently, this invitation should be watched closely since it goes counter to several geopolitical realities, and might be the result of beginning of more complex behind the curtain dealings to come between the two regional heavyweights.
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