Cairo said on Sunday the arrest and expulsion within 48 hours of an Iranian diplomat suspected of espionage, a case that casts a shadow on the delicate efforts for rapprochement with Tehran incurred since the change of regime in Egypt. The announcement was made shortly after the agency official MENA had announced that the diplomat, arrested in Cairo a few days ago and questioned Sunday by the prosecutor of the State Security, was released.
The diplomat of the Iranian interests section in Cairo, identified as Qassem al-Hosseini, is suspected by Egypt to have submitted information to the intelligence of his country. The Iranian Interests Section, which provides representation in Tehran in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries had denied on Sunday the arrest, ensuring that the diplomat was at work in the local section.
Iran broke off diplomatic relations with Cairo in 1980 after the Islamic revolution, in protest against the conclusion in 1979 of a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. Countries have enjoyed a relationship of ups and downs. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, like many other Arab leaders, harbored a strong distrust of Tehran, seen as a destabilizing element in the Middle East.
Since his fall on February 11, Cairo and Tehran are engaged in reconciliation efforts and promises to work for a diplomatic normalization, which have so far been unsuccessful. Egypt was ready to open "a new page" with Iran, who called on his side to make a "bold step" to restore diplomatic relations.
The new Egyptian government considers abnormal that Egypt has no diplomatic relations with Tehran, which puts him in the same position that Israel and the United States, while countries like the Gulf monarchies, very hostile to global Egyptian-Iranian, do. 
The diplomat of the Iranian interests section in Cairo, identified as Qassem al-Hosseini, is suspected by Egypt to have submitted information to the intelligence of his country. The Iranian Interests Section, which provides representation in Tehran in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries had denied on Sunday the arrest, ensuring that the diplomat was at work in the local section.
Iran broke off diplomatic relations with Cairo in 1980 after the Islamic revolution, in protest against the conclusion in 1979 of a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. Countries have enjoyed a relationship of ups and downs. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, like many other Arab leaders, harbored a strong distrust of Tehran, seen as a destabilizing element in the Middle East.
Since his fall on February 11, Cairo and Tehran are engaged in reconciliation efforts and promises to work for a diplomatic normalization, which have so far been unsuccessful. Egypt was ready to open "a new page" with Iran, who called on his side to make a "bold step" to restore diplomatic relations.
The new Egyptian government considers abnormal that Egypt has no diplomatic relations with Tehran, which puts him in the same position that Israel and the United States, while countries like the Gulf monarchies, very hostile to global Egyptian-Iranian, do.
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