More Than the Film Stands Between Iran And Egypt

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)

Despite several goodwill gestures from Iran, Egypt appears adamant in its refusal to re-establish diplomatic relations -- frozen for almost 30 years -- with the Persian-speaking Islamic republic. According to opposition figures, Cairo's insistence on keeping Iran at arm's length comes largely as a result of U.S. prompting.

"In line with U.S. directives, Egypt continues to seize upon superficial reasons to justify its refusal to normalise relations with Tehran," Hamdi Hassan, MP from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement told IPS.

Predictions of looming Egypt-Iran rapprochement were dashed with the appearance in July of an Iranian documentary film that portrayed late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat as a "traitor" for signing the 1979 Camp David peace agreement with Israel. The film titled 'Execution of a Pharaoh' praised Khaled al-Islambouli, who assassinated Sadat two years later, as "a martyr."

The documentary met with unusually strong reaction from Egyptian officialdom. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit rushed to condemn the film "in the strongest possible terms." He said "it is unfortunate that an Islamic society such as Iran would attack this great national leader (Sadat)."

Egypt has not had official relations with Iran since the latter cut diplomatic ties immediately following the Camp David deal. Unofficial relations remained hostile through most of the 1980s, when Egypt supported Saddam Hussein's Iraq against revolutionary Iran in a drawn-out war of attrition.

In the years since, Egypt's closeness to the U.S. -- which has made no secret of its desire to isolate, if not attack, Iran -- has kept relations between Egypt and Iran frosty. Nevertheless, a number of recent developments had prompted speculation that a restoration of diplomatic ties was imminent.

Last year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad explicitly stated his country's readiness to re-establish official bilateral relations. "If the Egyptian government was willing, we would open our embassy in Cairo the same day," Ahmedinejad said.

Egypt never formally responded to the proposal, but Ahmedinejad's offer was followed by several visits to the Egyptian capital by top-level Iranian officials.

In January, a conference of the Organisation of Islamic Countries in Cairo was attended by Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Gholam Ali Adel. The visit was the first to Egypt by a senior Iranian parliamentary official since the 1970s.

In light of such high-level contact, many were surprised by Egypt's vehement reaction to the documentary film.

Iranian officials tried to distance themselves from the film, pointing out that it was never broadcast on state television. An Iranian diplomat told local media that the documentary had been "produced by independent bodies" and "did not represent the official position of the Islamic republic."

Nevertheless, Egyptian officials have continued to register their displeasure.

The strongest censure came from Mohammed al-Tantawi, Grand Sheikh of Egypt's Al-Azhar religious establishment, which -- although it ultimately answers to the government -- represents the highest religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world. In mid-July, Tantawi issued a statement in which he accused the producers of the film of committing the "the most heinous of crimes", while stressing Sadat's status as martyr.

In early August, it emerged that the contentious film did not, in fact, have any connection to the Iranian government. As it turned out, Execution of a Pharaoh was originally produced by satellite news channel Al-Jazeera, and was later dubbed into Persian by an independent Iranian religious institution that took the liberty of inserting the word "traitor" before Sadat's name.

Despite Iran's apparent vindication, the Egyptian government refrained from issuing any formal apologies or retractions for its hasty recriminations.

But in another apparent gesture of goodwill, Iran extended a formal invitation last month to open a branch of the Al-Azhar University in the Iranian capital with the aim of "reinforcing Egypt-Iran relations and promoting understanding between the Sunni and Shia denominations of Islam."

Tantawi -- still holding the Iranian government responsible for the film despite proof to the contrary -- rejected the offer. "There is no intention to open a branch of Al-Azhar in Tehran," he was quoted as saying by the independent daily Al-Dustour. "Al-Azhar has decided to cut relations with Iran because of the film."

In the weeks since, the local press has been rife with speculation over the reasons behind Egypt's unusually harsh approach to Iran.

"Even though the film was not associated with the (Iranian) state, the foreign minister's aggressive response gave the green light to activate the dispute between Sunni and Shia," political analyst Mohammed Abdel-Hadi wrote in the Aug. 27 edition of independent daily Al-Masri Al-Youm. "It promoted the idea that official rapprochement between Egypt and Iran remains an impossibility."

Other critics say Egypt's intolerant attitude towards Iran springs from its traditional subservience to the U.S.

"The government, following U.S. policy directives, is always looking for excuses not to re-establish relations with Iran," Magdi Hussein, secretary-general of Egypt's frozen Islamist-leaning Labour Party told IPS. "Even though Tehran bore no responsibility for the film, the government exaggerated the issue in order to whip up hostility against the Iranians."

Hussein said Tantawi's particularly vehement statements "are not being taken seriously by anyone." Tantawi, he added, "has lost all religious credibility because his opinions only reflect the desires of the ruling regime."

Hassan agreed that Egypt's knee-jerk reaction to the documentary revealed an "unreasonable" reluctance to deal with Iran.

"Iran has extended a number of goodwill gestures to Egypt and has even expressed its desire to re-establish full diplomatic ties," he said. "Yet Egypt has not taken a single step to improve relations."

Hassan went on to say that a restoration of Egypt-Iran relations could only be realised "when Egypt is master of its own foreign policy." Until then, he said, "Cairo's dealings with Tehran will continue to simply conform to U.S.-Zionist dictates."