Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood official who became Egypt’s first democratically elected president in June, aroused concern in the west that his decision to attend a meeting of the non-aligned movement in Tehran marked a shift in the country’s pro-western foreign policy.
But he used his keynote speech to the meeting to call on the Assad regime in Syria, Iran’s closest ally, to step down. “We should all express our full support to the struggle of those who are demanding freedom and justice in Syria and translate our sympathies into a clear political vision that supports peaceful transfer to a democratic system,” he said.
As he spoke, the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Muallem, walked out. He told state television that Mr Morsi’s speech interfered in Syrian internal affairs and “incited continued bloodshed".
Mr Morsi’s attendance at the conference represented the first visit by an Egyptian president to Tehran since the 1979 Iranian revolution put the two countries on opposite sides in the struggle between America and its allies and the so-called “axis of resistance".
But he has also been keen to insist that while the new Egypt will be open to all countries in the Middle East, it will stick to old agreements, including the peace deal with Israel.
His backing for the opposition in Syria is not unexpected - it is now largely dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Assad regime’s fiercest enemy - but his speech was stronger than it needed to be.
He made clear that he was considering the wider implications for his stance. “Our solidarity with the struggle of Syrians against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty, and a political and strategic necessity,” he said.
He said explicitly that the uprising against the Assad regime followed those in Tunisia, Libya and Yemen, and the revolution that brought him to power in Egypt. Iran’s stated view is that the downfall of pro-American regimes in Tunisia and Egypt was part of the “Islamic awakening” that stemmed from its own 1979 revolution, and in contrast to the “imperialist" counter-revolution in Syria.
The speech also cast in a new light a bid by Mr Morsi to put together a Middle Eastern “contact group” involving Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to find a solution to the Syrian crisis. His speech made clear that he would form part of a Sunni-led, anti-Assad majority in which Iran would be boxed into a corner.
He has previously opposed foreign military intervention in the Syrian war, but he hinted that more options were on the table. “The bloodletting in Syria is the responsibility of all of us and we should know that this bloodletting won’t be stopped without active interference,” he said.
Attention will now turn to a meeting of the United Nations security council in New York later on Thursday, where Turkey is expected to present proposals for a “safe zone” for refugees inside Syria’s northern border.
Any suggestion that such a zone would be policed by outside forces - such as the Turks themselves - is likely to be resisted by Russia and China, which hold vetoes.
In Syria itself, meanwhile, rebels claimed to have shot down a regime fighter jet in the northern province of Idlib.
On Wednesday, rebels, including an Islamist brigade working with the Free Syrian Army, claimed to have attacked two military air bases in Idlib province, destroying ten helicopters, ten Mig fighter jets, and a number of tanks, though their claims could not be independently verified.
Mohamed Morsi (left) pictured in June. 
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi strongly backed the Syrian rebels Thursday in a speech at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Iran. Morsi, a Sunni Muslim and member of the Muslim Brotherhood, is the first Egyptian leader in 30 years to visit Iran – an ally of Syrian Prime Minister  Shi'ite dominated regime.

In a strongly worded speech, which caused Syrian foreign minister  to walk out in protest, Morsi called the Syrian regime "oppressive", saying that it has lost legitimacy. Delegates were told, "the bloodshed in Syria is our responsibility on all our shoulders and we have to know that the bloodshed cannot stop without effective interference from all of us."

Morsi called on delegates to "... announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom."

For the Syrian government, foreign minister al Muallem subsequently told state media that President Morsi was interfering in Syrian domestic affairs and inciting further violence in the conflict.

Morsi's speech was viewed by commentators as a direct rebuke to Iran and a message that they had chosen the wrong side in the Syrian conflict. The speech also allayed fears in the west that his attendance at a meeting of non-aligned countries indicated a change in Egyptian foreign policy to a less pro-Western stance.



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