Ahmadinejad is the first Iranian President to visit Egypt since 1979 Islamic Revolution

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran on 5 February 2013 became the first Iranian leader to visit Egypt after Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution. He flew into the Egyptian capital city Cairo for attending the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that started on 6 Feb 2013. Ahmadinejad’s visit to Egypt was scheduled to improve the ties between the two countries.

During this historic visit to Egypt, Ahmadinejad received a red carpet welcome by the President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi. The Presidents of the two nations discussed on the ways to improve relations between them and to resolve the Syrian crisis without resorting to military intervention.

During his visit to the al-Azhar, an ancient mosque, a shoe was thrown on Ahmadinejad by a Syrian protestor after which he managed to flee from there.

Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 was the series of events that took place for overthrowing the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which was then replaced by the Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution.

Reason for tensions between Iran and Egypt

The relations between the two countries went sour since late 1970’s, when Anwar Sadat (Egypt), the predecessor of Hosni Mubarak concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 to became an ally with the Western Powers, namely Europe and United States. This was the time, when Iran stood against the influence of Western Power in the Middle East. The other reason for the tension is naming of a street in Tehran by the name of the Islamist, who was responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981.