Iran keen to cooperate with Egypt on Syria: Iranian official

TEHRAN,June 26(MNA) – Iran is keen to cooperate with Egypt, as one of the largest Muslim countries in the world, to help defuse the crisis in Syria which has dragged on for over two years, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday. “We are keen to cooperate with the Egyptian government on Syria and consider Egypt influential like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and therefore the progress of quartet negotiations is important in our view,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said at his regular press briefing in Tehran. He was referring to negotiations of a contact group on Syria comprising Egypt, Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi had put forward the proposal for the establishment of such a contact group during an emergency Islamic summit held in Mecca on August 14 and 15, 2012. Araqchi said, “We will continue our consultations with the Egyptian government on Syria.”