Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Cairo on Tuesday Feb 5,2013 to attend the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Cairo, which starts on Wednesday Feb 6,2013(the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution)
Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi welcomed Ahmadinejad at the Cairo International airport.
Egypt has responded cautiously to Iranian efforts to revive ties since Morsi took power in 2012, with the two nations adopting opposing positions on the Syrian conflict(Iran supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Egypt has been a leading voice in urging his departure - along with regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar)
Note
- Iran severed ties with Egypt in 1980 in protest at a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel by then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.
- Egypt, a predominantly Sunni Muslim power, has seen itself as a political rival of Shia Iran
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