Egypt's foreign minister to Iran: Mind your own business

By ASSOCIATED PRESS  
02/05/2011 18:28 
THE JERUSALEM POST

Aboul Gheit: Khamenei should stop "distracting Iranian people, hiding behind what's happening in Egypt," waiting for Iran's "critical moment."

CAIR0 — Egypt's foreign minister has told Teheran to mind its own business after Iran's top leader praised the Egyptian uprising as an appropriate response to dictatorial rule.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters Saturday that Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seems to have forgotten about the crushing of widespread protests in Iran two years ago.

Aboul Gheit said Khamenei should be more attentive to calls for freedom in Iran rather than "distracting the Iranian people's attention by hiding behind what is happening in Egypt."

The Egyptian foreign minister said that "Iran's critical moment has not come yet, but we will watch that moment with great anticipation and interest."

Egypt has been rocked by two weeks of protests seeking the ouster of its president, Hosni Mubarak.

During Friday prayers, Irans top leader said that Mubarak betrayed his people and the uprising against his rule is the appropriate response. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also told worshippers that widening unrest in the Arab world is a sign of "Islamic awareness" in the region.

Iran has portrayed the unrest in Egypt, which erupted Jan. 25, as a replay of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the pro-US Shah and brought Islamic militants to power.

In his speech, Khamenei accused Mubarak of doing America's bidding, particularly in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "America's control over Egypt's leaders has ... turned Egypt into the biggest enemy of Palestine and turned it into the greatest refuge for Zionists," he said.

"This explosion we see among the people of Egypt is the appropriate response to this great betrayal that the traitor dictator committed against his people," Khamenei said, without mentioning Mubarak by name.

JPost.com staff contributed to this report.