Deputy Ali-Mohammad Bozorgvari lashed out at Morsi Sunday for failing to meet with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi during his late August visit.
Morsi flew into Tehran to attend the summit meeting of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), but pointedly stayed in Iran only a few hours.
Bozorgvari told lawmakers that during a Muslim leaders’ summit in Saudi Arabia earlier in August, Morsi met the Saudi king but declined to meet Khamenehi while in Iran. Iran has never said that Morsi was invited to meet Khamenehi.
Morsi’s Iran visit was the first by an Egyptian president to the Islamic Republic, and was heavily touted in advance by the Islamic Republic. But in his speech to the NAM, Morsi attacked Iran’s only ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, calling it “oppressive.”
Morsi said Assad had lost legitimacy as president amid the civil war, which activists say has left more than 23,000 people dead in Syria, and should step down.
However, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossain-Amir Abdollahian said Iran welcomed Morsi’s proposal for a four-nation contact group to spearhead a new peace effort to end the Syrian conflict.
Morsi’s proposal named Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran as the four nations to lead the push. It was dismissed by Syrian rebels as a dead end because of Iran’s inclusion. However, low-level officials from the four countries met this week to get the initiative started.
Abdollahian also criticized Morsi for his anti-Assad remarks, saying the Egyptian president should have a “realistic attitude” toward developments in Syria.