Iran has endorsed the Egyptian uprising against President Hosni Mubarak. More than 200 members of the Iranian Parliament signed a statement calling events in Egypt a "holy revolution" inspired by Iran's revolution. PressTV, the quasi-official Iranian news agency, reported that the parliamentarians "described Iran's support for the Egyptian revolution as a spiritual one, based on common historical principles."
The agency added that Egypt had been regarded as the center of "freedom-seeking Islam" in the 20th century until "disloyal leaders" acted "to serve the interest of those who usurped Muslims' rights."
"Thanks to the Islamic Revolution, Islam and Shiism is (sic) cultivating the world and this revolutionary culture is Islamic," one Iranian MP declared, adding that the victory of the Iranian Revolution "has turned it into a paradigm for the populace of Arab states…Today we can see the influence of the Islamic Revolution on the public opinion in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia."
The deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, gloated that the uprising in Egypt could damage Israel. "If Egypt and the Mubarak Administration collapse, the Zionist regime will have no support and a string of changes will occur," he said, speaking at ceremonies commemorating the 32nd anniversary of the Iranian revolution.
In an interview, Salami called the unrest in Egypt a "manifestation of the [Iranian] Islamic Revolution in the Middle East region and the world of Islam."
Iran has long been hostile to Mubarak and his predecessor, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (assassinated in 1981), for establishing piece with Israel. IDF Lt. Col. (Ret.) Michael Seagall writes that in 1982, "Iran issued a postal stamp in memory of Khalid Islambouli, Sadat's assassin, and even named a street after him in Tehran. In Tehran's Martyrs' Museum, he is remembered along with Ahmed Yassin, Yehye Ayash [a Hamas bombmaker assassinated by Israel], [Palestinian Islamic Jihad founder] Fathi Shuqaqi, Hizbullah's former Secretary General Abbas al-Musawi, and Imad Mugniyah. Iran hopes that Islambouli's standing in Iran will sway the Egyptian street and help turn the Middle East into Islamist territory under its influence."