Egypt's new president-elect Mohamed Morsy denied on Monday that he told an Iranian news outlet of his plans to "review" the country's 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel and renew his country's ties with Teheran. Iran's Fars News, which has ties to the Revolutionary Guards published a lengthy interview on its Persian language website on Monday, which it said Morsy gave in Cairo hours before the official runoff results were declared on Sunday. However, a spokesman for Morsy told Egypt's official MENA news agency Monday that "Morsy did not give any interview to Fars and everything this agency has published is baseless." The remarks Fars quoted in the interview contrasted sharply with promises Morsy made during his presidential campaign and in other interviews, in which he pledged to honor Egypt's international treaties, including its peace treaty with Israel. The peace treaty remains a lynchpin of US Middle East policy and, despite its unpopularity with many Egyptians, was staunchly upheld by Mubarak, who also suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood movement to which Morsy belongs. Late on Monday, Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) also rushed out a report stating that Morsy had denied the interview ever took place. In the interview Fars published, the news agency had said the president-elect told them that his country's policy towards Israel would be "one of equality because we are no less than [the Israelis] in any way", and that he planned to discuss with Israel the issue of the Palestinian right to return. "Of course all this will be done though the government and the cabinet because I alone will not make any decision," Fars quoted Morsy as saying.
The comments Fars said Morsy made also appeared to contradict his Sunday night acceptance speech, in which he promised to "preserve all national and international agreements."
However, Morsy has raised the issue of Camp David several times before, threatening in February to "review the peace treaty with Israel if US cuts aid [to Egypt]".
Fars said Morsy also pledged in the interview to restore ties between Teheran and Cairo.
Iran officially cut all ties with Egypt in 1979, in response to the Camp David accords.
"[We must] resume development of areas of political and economic cooperation, because this will create a "strategic balance" in the region," Fars quoted Morsy as saying. "This is part of my plan."
In response to a question regarding Iran's support of the Egyptian revolution and Iranian-Egyptian ties, Fars said Morsy had replied that Egypt "must have normal relations with Iran based on the countries' mutual interests."
Even though Iran is a predominantly Shi'ite country and the Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni Islam group, the Islamic Republic has expressed its support for the Egyptian revolution.
Notably, Hamas, which has received considerable material support from Iran, is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Notably, while Fars reported that the Egyptian president-elect said he planned to review the Camp David agreement, in a June 16 interview with Kuwaiti newspaper al-Kuwaitiah, later published in Persian on Iran's ASRIran news website, Morsy promised to "adhere to the agreement with Israel".
In the same al-Kuwaitiah interview, Morsy denied as "pure imagination and slander" that the Muslim Brotherhood has links with Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah.
"We respect the right of the Palestinian people in their resistance against the Israeli occupier, and we do not see anything wrong with that," Morsy told al-Kuwaitiah. "However, we will never stand with any forces that threaten the Persian Gulf countries."
Fars said that Morsy had also commented on the decision by Egypt's ruling military junta, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to dissolve the Egyptian parliament, which the Iranian news outlet said had been done "to target Islamist candidates".
SCAF, which took power after former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February 2011, has pledged to hand over power to the democratically-elected government after this month's elections, but recent moves to expand the military's authority have led to concerns that the junta will not do so.
According to Fars, Morsy said the generals had tried to curb his powers when they saw he was close to winning the presidential race.
As a result of SCAF's dissolution of parliament, Morsy will be sworn in before the Supreme Constitutional Court's General Assembly.
Regarding SCAF's June 17 decision to issue a supplementary constitutional declaration, Morsy said the military junta had no right to do so, adding that his party opposed the move, Fars said.
The June 17 declaration - made before the presidential runoff results were announced - significantly limits the president's powers as well as granting SCAF complete control over Egypt's military affairs.
Although Morsy will be able to form and dismiss a government and legislate, he will need SCAF's approval to declare war.
The declaration further stipulates that SCAF will play a key role in drafting the country's new constitution.
On Monday afternoon, EU foreign ministers also expressed concern about SCAF's June 17 declaration, saying that it could "delay and hinder the transition and full handover to civilian rule."

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK. Reuters contributed to this report.

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