War of Words Between Iran, Egypt over Hizbullah
Iran dismissed on Wednesday Egyptian accusations against Hizbullah as an "old trick" aimed at influencing the Lebanese parliamentary elections, news agencies reported.
"Labels against… Hizbullah and (its chief Sayyed) Hassan Nasrallah are an old and frayed trick and will not achieve anything," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
Mottaki was reacting to Egypt”s announcement that it had arrested a Hizbullah cell accused of plotting attacks in the country and accused Iran of using the Shiite group to gain a foothold in Egypt.
"Iran, and Iran”s followers, want Egypt to become a maid of honor for the crowned Iranian queen when she enters the Middle East," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Tuesday.
Mottaki also accused Iran”s arch-foe Israel and "hands from outside the region" of seeking to "create problems" in Lebanon”s June 7 elections.
"The Zionist regime will not succeed in this political plot," he said.
Nasrallah said on Friday that one of the men arrested, a Lebanese named Sami Shehab, was a Hizbullah agent charged with transporting weapons to Palestinian militants in Gaza but he denied the cell planned to carry out attacks in Egypt.
Referring to Iran, Abul Gheit said that "I wish I could see their eyes and their faces when their lower lips drop in astonishment at what the… public prosecutor will include in his report."
"(Iran) used (Hizbullah) to gain a presence in Egypt and to say to Egyptians: we are here," he added.