Iran’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the caretaker of Egypt’s Interests Office in Tehran to “strongly protest” against the participation of Egyptian lawmakers at an annual gathering of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), including MEK, an exiled Iranian opposition group, last week in Paris, Fars News Agency reported.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry official called the presence of “a number of Egyptian MPs” at the NCRI gathering in France on Saturday “a clear interference in our domestic affairs”.
Tehran accused the unidentified Egyptian MPs of supporting the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), a “terrorist group” as labelled by Iran.
The Iranian official was quoted late Wednesday by the official IRNA news agency as saying, “Egyptian authorities are expected to adopt responsible and principled policies and take steps toward preserving peace and stability in the region.”
Tehran broke off diplomatic relations with Cairo in 1980 a year after Iran’s Islamic revolution, in protest at Egypt’s signing of a peace treaty with Israel and hosting of the deposed shah.
The two countries maintain only interests sections in each other’s capitals.
For his part, the envoy stressed that Egypt does not meddle in the domestic affairs of other countries, IRNA reported.
Tehran has also summoned the French ambassador over the annual rally held at Le Bourget, near Paris, by the NCRI, which said that 100,000 Iranians had attended.
In the same context, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned French Ambassador to Tehran François Sénémaud after Paris hosted the rally last week.
Paris hosted the annual meeting of Iranian opposition that was attended by the former Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal, who gave a 30-minute address to the gathering.
