Azerbaijan, Baku, July 4 /Trend/
Iran is ready to cooperate with Egypt in all spheres including production of peaceful nuclear energy, Egyptian daily Alahram reported quoting the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Said Jalili as saying.
Jalili welcomed restoring diplomatic relations between two countries, emphasizing that Iran is ready to share its nuclear technological and scientific experience with Egypt.
Tehran and Cairo broke off diplomatic relations in the wake of Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979 after the then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David peace agreement with Israel and then granted political asylum to the deposed Shah of Iran, Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi.
Relations remained hostile through much of the 1980s, when Egypt supported Saddam Hussein's Iraq against revolutionary Iran in the two countries' eight-year-long war of attrition. Today, Cairo remains the only Arab capital not to have formal relations with Tehran.
In early April, 2011, Nabil al-Arabi, Egypt's first post-revolutionary foreign minister, declared that Cairo was ready to "turn a new page" with Iran.
On May 25, al-Arabi met with Iran's FM Ali Akbar Salehi on the sidelines of a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Bali, Indonesia, where the two men reportedly discussed the prospect of reactivated bilateral relations. Less than a week later, a 50-strong Egyptian delegation visited Tehran, where they, too, discussed with Iranian counterparts the possible resumption of ties.
Iran, for its part, which had unequivocally supported Egypt's Revolution, has welcomed the new, friendlier climate. Salehi, describing the Egyptian delegation's visit as "a step toward preparing the ground for improved relations," said Iran was ready to resume relations with Egypt "as soon as possible."
Iran has repeatedly stated that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes of providing energy, but many other countries contend that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
The issue has been of international concern since the discovery in 2003 that Iran had concealed its nuclear activities for 18 years in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).