Egypt To File Lawsuit Against Iranian News Agency

The office of Egypt’s president-elect Mohammed Morsi is to take legal action against the Iranian Fars news agency for fabricating an interview with him, the official Mena news agency said.

Fars quoted Morsi saying the two countries should improve ties.

Such a move would go against Western efforts to isolate Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme.

Mena quoted Morsi’s spokesman, Yassir Ali, as saying the interview was entirely made up.

Ties between Cairo and Tehran have been frosty since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the Egyptian-Israeli peace deal of the same year.

The two countries do not have full diplomatic relations but each has a mission in the other’s capital.

Fars said that Morsi had “underlined his enthusiasm for the further expansion of ties with Iran, and said relations between Tehran and Cairo will create a strategic balance in the region”.

On Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Morsi for winning the election, state TV reported, adding: “I emphasize expanding bilateral ties and strengthening the friendship between the two nations.”

Prior to his election, Morsi was leader of Egypt’s main Islamist party, the Freedom and Justice Party.