Iran's unrest comments "cross all red lines": Egypt

Reuters, by Dina Zayed, CAIRO | Sat Feb 5, 2011

(Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader has crossed all red lines by praising the social upheaval against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as an "Islamic liberation movement," Cairo's foreign minister said on Saturday.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei advised the people of Egypt and Tunisia on Friday to unite around their religion and against the West and called on the Egyptian army to back the protesters and "focus its eyes on the Zionist enemy.

"Khamenei's words deserve condemnation because they have crossed all red lines in handling Egyptian affairs within the prism of aggression and resentment," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the state news agency MENA.

"Egypt rejects any attempt for Khamenei or anyone else to seek to jump on Egypt's aspirations or those of its youth."

Mass demonstrations against Mubarak's 30-year rule entered their 12th day on Saturday, while political leaders were meeting inside and outside Egypt to seek a way out of a volatile impasse between Mubarak and protesters.

"The political and public movements toward reform in Egypt alone will design the future of the country and not the wishes of the mullahs of Iran," Aboul Gheit said. "These comments highlight Iran's resentment toward Egypt."

The unprecedented challenge to Mubarak has rallied many disparate sections of society -- professionals and the poor, secular and religious, Muslims and Christians, internet-savvy youth with members of the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist movement.

The Muslim Brotherhood however did not start the unrest, its members have not had a conspicuous profile in protests so far and its leaders say they do not want to lead any new government.

Egypt and Iran severed relations in 1980 following Iran's Islamic Revolution and Egypt's recognition of Israel. The two countries are at odds on a number of issues including the Middle East peace process and ties with Israel and the United States.

The predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iran and mainly Sunni Egypt have competed for prevailing influence in the Middle East.

Vice President Omar Suleiman rejected as "unacceptable" on Thursday any foreign intervention in the internal affairs of Egypt, after Washington said Mubarak must begin to take concrete steps to democratic elections.

In his first public comments on the popular uprisings in the region, Khamenei said Iran's 1979 revolution, which deposed the U.S.-backed shah and established an Islamic Republic, could serve as a pattern for the Arab uprisings.

Aboul Gheit urged him "to look to his own home country."

"Instead of seeking to distract the Iranian people with Egypt's political movements, the Supreme Leader should look to Iran and its people who have been aspiring to freedom from an oppressive system."

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)