Iran Welcomes Egyptian Pullout from Arab NATO

TEHRAN (defapress) - Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tehran welcomes Egypt’s decision to withdraw from being a member of the Arab NATO if the report is true.

News ID: 76758

Date: 12 April 2019 - 10:55

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Thursday that the reports regarding Egypt’s withdrawal from being part of the Arab NATO, which was released by some news agencies, is not still confirmed by the official sources, and there is no detailed information on its authenticity.

“Egypt is one of the most important and powerful countries in the Arab and Muslim world, which can play an important role in creating peace, stability and security in the West Asian region. Egypt can play an increasingly important role in the convergence and unity of the Muslim world if it realizes the current critical situation. We hope that Egypt, as an undeniable power of the Arab world, will be able to fulfil its historic mission in the current circumstances of the region and the world,” Qassemi noted.

The spokesman said in such situation, better relations will be established between Iran, Egypt and other regional states to confront terrorism, to provide security and stability, and to advance mutual understanding and multilateral cooperation.

“As I said in the past, one cannot basically be so much optimistic about an issue called ‘Arab NATO’ because in the West, NATO was established under certain historical and geographical circumstances based on a set of values, necessities, and even some clear-cut commonalities,” the ministry’s official website quoted him as saying.

He added that today, it is not believed that NATO could be copied in the Arab world, even through localizing NATO, which itself was the result of certain historical events.

Reuters reported earlier on Thursday that Egypt conveyed its decision to the US and other participants in the proposed Middle East Security Alliance (MESA), citing an unidentified source.

The Arab NATO initiative first was proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2017 to allegedly limit the growing regional influence of Russia and China, reported Reuters last year.

Message end/