Egypt recalls envoy from Iran after public protest

Tehran, Dec 10 (DPA) Egypt has recalled its diplomatic envoy from Tehran after a protest was held in front of its interest section.

Hundreds of Islamist students staged a demonstration Monday in front of the Egyptian embassy's interest section in Tehran in protest against Egypt's continued cooperation with political arch-foe Israel over the ongoing siege of the ruling Hamas group in the Gaza Strip.

Despite reassurances by foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi that the diplomatic missions in Tehran were sufficiently secured, Cairo decided to recall its envoy from the Islamic state.

Local political analysts believe the move will further delay the normalization of diplomatic relations, which were severed following Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution due to Egypt's Camp David Accord with Israel in 1978.

Iran was earlier this year quite hopeful that relations would soon be normalized and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad even said if Egypt agreed to normalize diplomatic relations 'today,' Iran would send an ambassador to Cairo 'tomorrow.'

Despite efforts in the last 10 years by both President Ahmadinejad and his predecessor Mohammad Khatami to resume full diplomatic relations with Egypt, Cairo has been hesitant to do so.

One of the main disputes between the two states was the naming of a Tehran street after the assassin of former Egyptian president Anwar

Sadat, which Iran later agreed to change to Intifada (uprising) Street in reference to the Palestinian resistance in the occupied

West Bank and Gaza.

In return, Tehran wants Egypt to change the name of a street in Cairo named after the late Iranian king Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, who is also buried in the al-Rifai mosque in the Egyptian capital.