The election of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi as the new president of Egypt was welcomed by the semi-official FARS news agency in Iran.

FARS news, which is believed to be close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, was optimistic that, based on what it says are Morsi’s previously stated foreign policy positions, he will be dedicated to “the resumption of Egypt’s diplomatic and strategic relations with all Islamic countries in the world including Iran.” FARS also quoted Morsi as having said that during Mubarak’s reign, Egypt’s relations were based on the interests of Israel and the United States and that he would reconsider all such relations. 

Despite FARS’s optimism, Morsi on Sunday, in a nationwide address, reassured both Israel and the US that he would abide by Egypt’s previous treaty commitments, including its peace agreement with Israel.   .

In addition, not all of Morsi’s previous statements regarding Iran have been positive. In fact, on at least one occasion during the campaign, he publicly did his utmost to distance himself from Iran in an interview with the Kuwaiti publication Al-Kuwaite, parts of which were translated and published by the Iran-based publication ASR Iran news on June 21.