Iran, Egypt can counter West domination in region: Iran MP

ran and Egypt can prevent the expansion of Western domination over the region.

“The expansion of relations between Iran and Egypt as two powerful regional countries will have positive impact on the region and can prevent further expansion of the Western domination over the region,” Ahmadreza Dastgheib, deputy chairman of Iran Majlis Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, said on Wednesday.

Dastgheib stressed, however, that the expansion of relations between the two countries should be a mutual decision.

“Any disagreement between Muslim countries will pave the way for an increase in US and Western presence in the region,” the Iranian lawmaker added.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is currently on a visit to Egypt to attend the 12th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

He was welcomed by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi upon arriving in Cairo on Tuesday.

Iran severed ties with Egypt after Cairo signed the 1978 Camp David Accord with Israel and offered asylum to Iran’s deposed monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Morsi visited Iran for the 16th NAM summit in August 2012, which was the first trip by an Egyptian president to Tehran since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.