Egypt, meanwhile, expelled an Iranian diplomat for spying.
The Islamic Republic is being constantly upbeat in its news reports, making it sound like Iran and Egypt are about to team up to play together in tennis doubles.
But the comments from Cairo are growing more distant. And it appears that Egypt has now put off the topic of full diplomatic relations until September, seeing it as just too hot politically right now.
Egyptian newspapers reported that Qassem Hossaini, an Iranian diplomat assigned as third secretary in the Iranian Interests Section in Cairo, was arrested Saturday on espionage charges. When the Foreign Ministry vouched that he was a diplomat, he was freed Sunday. The official Egyptian state news agency announced he was expelled Monday.
Newspapers in Cairo noted that in an ironic twist, the flight on which Hossaini was sent home also carried a 45-member delegation from the Egyptian-Iranian Friendship Society, which wants full diplomatic relations restored and which was headed to Tehran for a visit.
In Tehran, the Foreign Ministry said Hossaini had indeed been arrested Saturday, but had swiftly been released when his diplomatic status became known. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said, “That was a misunderstanding. It is over now.”
Salehi said Hossaini “is currently following his normal schedule” and would be accompanying a 45-member delegation of Egyptians to Iran on a flight Monday.
But before Tehran admitted Hossaini had been arrested in a “misunderstanding,” the Iranian mission in Cairo had denied that he had ever been detained. It said that Sunday after Hossaini was released.
Many in Tehran are asking why relations have not been restored by now. It has been more than two months since Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El-Araby said he was prepared for full relations.
But many Arabs are looking askance at the idea, especially Arabs living around the Persian Gulf where anti-Iranian feelings are surging. Many of them suggest that Cairo intends to get closer to Iran at their expense. They sometimes seem to forget that all the Arab states around the Persian Gulf maintain full diplomatic relations with Iran.
Iran describes the establishment of full diplomatic relations as the development of a “strategic” relationship with Cairo. It paints a picture of Iran and Egypt walking hand-in-hand as the leaders of the new Middle East.
But Egypt doesn’t use any such terms. El-Araby describes the re-establishment of full relations simply as a way to conduct normal business, the way almost all professional diplomats describe ambassadorial relations.
The new Egyptian government wants to play a bigger role in the Middle East and distance itself somewhat from Washington. It sees full relations with Iran as enabling it to talk professionally with ever country in the Middle East and better execute its goals.
But the reaction from other Arabs who see some conspiratorial meaning in full diplomatic relations may be causing some second thoughts. Some Egyptian politicians appear now to have concluded that full relations with Iran offer more negatives than positives.
El-Araby last week said the new parliament to be elected in September would take up the issue. Without saying so directly, El-Araby appeared to be saying nothing would happen on the relationship front until after the parliamentary elections.
Iran broke relations with Cairo in 1980 as punishment for Egypt signing a peace treaty with Israel. For years, Iran said it would not agree to resume relations until the peace treaty was abrogated. But Iran long ago abandoned that demand.
In the 1990s, the two countries established “interest sections” in each other’s capital. These are diplomatic missions staffed with low-level diplomats. Iran has repeatedly begged for full diplomatic relations. President Ahmadi-nejad a few years ago said he would send an ambassador to Cairo that very afternoon if President Hosni Mubarak would just say the world. Now Iran ignores that history, and says it supported the Egyptian people by always refusing to have diplomatic relations with Mubarak.
The Middle East News Agency (MENA), Egypt’s state news agency, said Hossaini was caught gathering and sending reports to Tehran on economic, political and military developments in Egypt since the overthrow of Mubarak. That, however, is what diplomats do.
The Cairo daily Al-Akhbar, however, said Hossaini was also part of spy network trying to recruit agents to work in the Persian Gulf Arab countries.
Many people look at diplomatic relations as some sort of stamp of approval by one government of another, but formal relations are nothing more than a means for conducting business. The United States had an embassy in Nazi Germany until Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States in 1941. The Soviet Union and the United States had dull diplomatic relations all through the Cold War. And Iran and Iraq maintained embassies in each other’s capital throughout the Iran-Iraq war of 1980—88. That was unusual.