Tehran’s mullahs aren’t wasting time expanding their influence. Iran and Syria are already meddling in Egypt.
Asharq al-Awsat picks up on the Axis of Evil’s latest plots:
The Syrian analysts who drew up the report believe that although the Islamists were not behind what happened in Tunisia or Egypt, Islamist movements will soon be in control of both countries, and will act to bring them closer to Iran and Syria. Accordingly, both Syria and Iran should accelerate their implementation of what was previously agreed between the two countries, with regards to “the post-Mubarak era”. Most importantly, the report stressed the need to establish permanent relations with the Muslim Brotherhood, so as to ensure a common strategy with the aim of controlling the [Egyptian] regime.
Iran was the primary advocate of this idea, as expressed by Iranian President Ahmadinejad on the 25th February 2010, when he visited Damascus. He emphasized the need for Iranian-Syrian intervention in Egypt, at a time when the country was preparing to elect a president to replace Mubarak. This was such a rare opportunity to influence Egypt, and bring it towards the radical camp. Ahmadinejad added that Iran and Syria must not waste time; for fear that Gamal Mubarak would be elected in the absence of any internal factors impeding his election.
Iranian opinion was settled on invoking the Muslim Brotherhood as a means to cause internal unrest in Egypt, in the period both before and after the presidential election.
I don’t fear Egyptian democracy. I fear the Iranians and Syrians undermining it.
