Speaking with the Head of the Office for the Protection of the Interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Restoring Tehran-Cairo relations

Mohammad Hossein Soltanifar head of the office for the protection of the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Egypt speaking with the Negaheno responded to many questions regarding Tehran -Cairo relations.

Here is the interview:Thank you, Mr. Soltanifar, for the opportunity provided for Negaheno. There is this question that during the current situation what is the impact of Tehran -Cairo convergence over creating new regional and global relations?

If we want to have a brief look into the status and position of Tehran and Cairo and review their impact under the current situation in the regional changes it would be doubtless to say that if this convergence is shaped and the relation is restored, we would be witnessing a very positive and significant impact on firstly the Iran -Arab ties and secondly on the regional changes in particular, with regards to Palestine.

Is Tehran -Cairo agreement and the proximity of the two major capitals of civilization in the same line with Tehran- Riyadh agreement?

There is no doubt that the Iran -Saudi Arabia agreement has impacted the grounds for creating an adequate Iran -Arab ties and it will continue to do so. With regards to the role and status of Egypt and Iran we cannot claim that the Tehran – Cairo agreement stands in the same line as the Tehran -Riyadh agreement however, we can claim that it does have its own impact but we cannot say they are in the same line of agreement.Will the level of relations rise to the level of ambassadors for Tehran and Cairo?

What is now discussed between the two countries following the negotiations is to restore the relations to the level of ambassadors. Currently, our political relation in Egypt is at the level of office for the protection of interests in Tehran and Cairo and we are trying to restore and level up the relations to the level of ambassadors.

How do you think the common grounds existing between Iran and Egypt would impact on Palestine and Palestinian resistance?

If we look back at Egypt in the past, we would realize that Egypt has a long history on Palestine as it was directly involved in more than 4-5 conflicts with the Zionist regime and was left with many victims for the cause of Palestine. Hence, the issue of Egypt and Palestine regardless of all the marginal side effects is a tightly knotted issue where both Palestine and Egypt are both impacted by each other and so the spirit of anti -Zionism among the Egyptians are quite obvious. No doubt, the convergence between Iran and Egypt with regards to the views of the Islamic Republic of Iran indicates many common grounds between the two countries which can be effective in solving the crises in Palestine.