Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt’s new Islamist president told Iran’s state media he intends to normalize
relations with Iran.

President-elect Mohammed Morsi said his new Muslim Brotherhood
government would seek to reconcile with Iran. Morsi sent the Iranian
leadership a message that he would revise Egypt’s foreign policy.

“It is necessary to restore normal relations with Iran on a mutual
beneficial basis,” Morsi told Iran’s state-owned Fars News Agency. “This will ensure the strategic balance in the region.”

On June 25, Morsi denied ever speaking to Fars, which said it
interviewed the Brotherhood leader hours before election results were
announced on June 24. Fars had also quoted Morsi as saying that Cairo would review its peace treaty with Israel.

“Mr. Morsi did not submit to any interview with Fars,” Morsi’s spokesman
was quoted by Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency. “Everything
published by this agency is baseless.”

Western diplomatic sources said Morsi’s message to Iran was not
unexpected. They said, however, that the president-elect could reach out to Teheran in a policy coordinated with the military regime.

“Morsi has been working closely with the military for at least the last
year, and it is reasonable to say they discussed foreign policy,” a
Western diplomat in Cairo said.

The new president was not expected to make any military or foreign

policy decision alone. On the eve of the run-off to presidential elections,
the military regime disbanded the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled parliament,
stripped the presidency of the power to declare war and restored martial
law.

“Morsi will be allowed to turn Egypt into an Islamic state, perhaps
similar to Pakistan,” the diplomat said. “But all decisions on military,
security and foreign policy will be made by the ruling council.”

Iran severed relations with Egypt in 1978 after then-President Anwar
Sadat signed a peace agreement with Israel. Several reconciliation attempts
failed over the last decade amid U.S. pressure on Cairo and Iranian
insurgency operations in Egypt.

  Anwar Sadat, Egyptian military regime, Iran’s media reports new Egypt president will change foreign policy, Islamic state, Mohammed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood