Tehran, July 5 (IANS/AKI) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has invited Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, to a summit of Non-Aligned countries to be held in Tehran Aug 29.
It was not known if Morsi has accepted the invitation.
Ahmadinejad congratulated Morsi on his win in the presidential elections last month.
He called it “an Islamic awakening in the region” and urged stronger bilateral ties and friendship between the two nations, Iranian state TV reported.
According to the Fars news agency, Morsi had said in an interview before his presidential victory that he planned to expand relations with Iran to “create a balance of pressure in the region”.
However, Morsi’s spokesman subsequently denied the interview had taken place.
Western powers have been trying to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, which they suspect it is using to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran claims it is solely for civilian nuclear energy.
The Non-Aligned movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. Till 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries.
–IANS/AKI
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