TEHRAN – An Iranian diplomat has said that Iran is making efforts to raise the level of relations with Egypt to ambassador. 

The diplomat, Mohammad Hossein Soltanifar, who is the head of the office representing Iran’s interests in Egypt, said improvement in Tehran-Cairo relations would leave a major impact on the region. 

“If this convergence takes place and the relations between the two countries improve, we will see a very positive and important impact, firstly on the Iranian-Arab relationship and secondly on the developments in the region, especially Palestine,” Soltanifar said in remarks to Fars News. 

Responding to a question on whether improvement in Iran-Egypt relations is in continuation of the Iran-Saudi thaw, he said, “There is no doubt that the agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia has and will have an impact on creating a suitable environment for Arab-Iranian relations. Considering the role and position of Egypt and Iran, we cannot say that the understanding between Iran and Egypt is the same as the understanding between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but we can claim that it is influenced by it. But we cannot say that it is in line with the same understanding.”

He also said that Tehran and Cairo are working to upgrade their relations to the level of ambassador. “What is currently in the discussion of the bilateral relations between the two countries and the ongoing negotiations is the agreement of the two countries to raise the level of the relations between the two countries to the ambassador level. Currently, we have the level of political relations with Egypt at the level of interests representation offices in Tehran and Cairo, and we are trying to raise this level of political relations to the ambassador level,” he said. 

He also said that convergence between Iran and Egypt will impact Palestine. 

“Considering the positions and points of view of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this field, we will witness commonalities that can be effective in solving the Palestinian issue,” Soltanifar said.