EGYPT: Iran-Bashing Fails to Get Far

By Adam Morrow Reprint | | Print |

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

CAIRO, Feb 23 2007 (IPS) - A news report in the state press late last month suggesting Iranian involvement in the 2005 death of an Egyptian ambassador to Iraq triggered a series of contradictory statements from the foreign ministry. Now that the dust has settled, many local observers see the incident as a heavy-handed attempt by Cairo – following Washington&#39s lead – to jump on the anti-Tehran bandwagon.

"Egyptian foreign policy is organically tied to U.S. policy and takes the same positions," Gamal Zahran, head of the political science department at Suez Canal University and speaker for the independent bloc in parliament told IPS. "If Washington re-established relations with Tehran, Egypt would be first on line to do the same."

The controversy arose when the Jan. 28 edition of government daily al-Ahram quoted unnamed "diplomatic sources" as saying that "Iranian intelligence services stood behind the murder of Ihab el-Sherif, the former Egyptian ambassador to Iraq." According to the same source, Tehran&#39s motive for the crime was to "sever Egypt&#39s foothold in Iraq."

El-Sherif was appointed Egypt&#39s chief diplomat to Iraq in early June 2005. One month later, Jul. 3, after leaving his home in Baghdad&#39s Mansoura district, he was reportedly abducted by unknown assailants.

His execution was announced on the Internet four days later by a group claiming to represent "al-Qaeda in Iraq", but el-Sherif&#39s body was never found.

Al-Ahram&#39s headline story, meanwhile, offered no evidence of Iranian involvement in the crime.

The unnamed source went on to offer a degree of justification for Cairo&#39s support of the new U.S. plan for Iraq, announced during U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice&#39s recent trip to the region. The plan includes deployment of additional U.S. troops to the war-torn country.

Egyptian support for the plan, the source noted, is based on the aim of "saving our fellow Muslims who are subject to ethnic cleansing, especially in Baghdad, at the hands of armed militias whose affiliations are well known."

The Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo reacted quickly and angrily to the implications of the al-Ahram story.

"This report is totally devoid of truth and we strongly deny and condemn it," read a statement released by the mission immediately after publication of the story. "We suspect that the enemies of the Islamic and Arab worlds are the ones instigating this sectarian strife and spreading divisions between Muslim nations."

The issue became further confused when, after receiving a flurry of enquiries by journalists seeking to confirm the report, the foreign ministry issued a press release stating that the story was baseless. "In reference to the story carried in al-Ahram…it is invalid," the statement read.

Within hours, however, a second statement was released, which seemed to retract the earlier announcement. The ministry "has no relationship with the al-Ahram story," the statement noted, "which can neither be confirmed nor denied."

Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit seemed to confirm this position in the Feb. 8 edition of government daily al-Gomhouriya, where he was quoted as saying that "the enthusiasm of some foreign ministry officials prompted them to deny the validity of the (al-Ahram) story, but we can&#39t comment at this time on statements made by unknown sources."

While the identity – and motivations – of the unnamed source remain unknown, the al-Ahram report&#39s anti-Iranian flavour was hardly an isolated incident.

Al-Ahram editor-in-chief Osama Saraya blasted Tehran in his weekly editorial Jan. 26, accusing it of using "divisive, underhanded" means to achieve its regional ambitions.

"Iran is not particularly interested in keeping Iraq stable or in one piece," Saraya wrote. "Iran has been using Hezbollah to undermine the government of Fouad al-Siniora (in Lebanon)" and "has been obstructing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas every step of the way, simply because it doesn&#39t want to see an end to the Arab-Israel conflict."

"Some say the Iranians have no ill intentions towards the region. I doubt it," wrote Saraya, who is closely affiliated to the ruling regime&#39s new guard headed by President Hosni Mubarak&#39s son, Gamal. "Iran isn&#39t just reacting to the Americans. It has always been disruptive in its methods and aims."

Many local observers, however, say al-Ahram&#39s accusations against Tehran only serve to show up Cairo&#39s willingness – at U.S. prompting – to vilify the Shia Muslim theocracy.

"The Egyptian position regarding Iran is the same as the American position," said Zahran. "And this position doesn&#39t cater to Egypt&#39s vital interests, which are best served by stability between big regional powers like Iran."

Abdel-Halim Kandil, editor-in-chief of opposition weekly al-Karama, also expressed skepticism over the state paper&#39s accusations of Iranian complicity in el-Sherif&#39s reported murder.

"Egyptian intelligence agencies don&#39t have any information regarding el-Sherif&#39s fate," Kandil told IPS. "This was made obvious by the fumbling of the foreign ministry, which first denied the al-Ahram story, then denied the denial."

"I tend to believe Iran had nothing to do with the ambassador&#39s abduction," Kandil said, "despite Tehran&#39s obvious ambitions in Iraq." He went on to question the veracity of the official story regarding the diplomat&#39s death, going so far as to mention serious speculation among informed Iraqi sources that el-Sherif was, in fact, still alive.

Critics of the official story also point to a Jul. 28 2005 "al-Qaeda in Iraq" statement in which the group flatly denied any involvement in the murder. "We strongly deny any connection with el-Sherif&#39s execution," read the statement. The group went on to point out that the methods employed in the diplomat&#39s abduction and alleged execution were "not even close to those we usually employ."

According to Mohamed Abu al-Hadid, political analyst and chairman of the state-owned print house that publishes al-Gomhouriya, the vilification of Tehran is part of a U.S. plan supported to a degree by Cairo aimed at "turning Iran into an enemy of all the countries in the region."

"This involves turning the confrontation between Muslim countries and Israel and the U.S. into one in which Arabs and Muslims fight against each other," Abu al-Hadid told IPS. "Unfortunately, some are helping the U.S. create animosity between the regional actors, and the primary struggle – for the liberation of occupied Arab land – is being forgotten."

Tehran severed diplomatic relations with Cairo in 1979 after former president Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David peace agreement with Israel. Egypt further alienated the nascent Islamic Republic later the same year by granting political asylum to then freshly deposed Shah of Iran, Mohamed Reza Pahlavi.