A member of the Tehran City Council termed the original naming of a capital street, honoring the assassin of the former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, as "an indiscreet and a hasty move,” the Persian daily Abrar said on Thursday, cited by Iran’s news agency (IRNA).
Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabai said that Khaled Islambouli had insulted the founder of the Islamic Revolution, late Imam Khomeini in his will, the paper said.
Tabatabai repeated recent announcement of the council, saying it was waiting for the green light from Iran's Foreign Ministry to rename the street.
In an unexpected move, the council voted to open an urgent debate on the issue, which has hampered efforts to improve Iran-Egypt ties, cut 22 years ago.
Members of the council were said to have agreed to a proposal to change the name of the street from Khaled Eslambouli to either
'Intifada Martyrs' or 'Mohammad ad-Durra', a young Palestinian who was shot dead by the Israeli troops while huddling beside his father for shelter from bullets.
Egyptian officials were also said to have welcomed the decision, saying the move was `a positive step'.
The London-based Arab daily 'al-Sharq al-Awsat' quoted a high-ranking Egyptian official in Cairo as saying that the step contributes in underlying the goodwill to improve and develop Egyptian-Iranian ties that will serve the interests of both countries.
Tehran-Cairo ties have significantly warmed since June of last year when President Mohammad Khatami spoke over phone with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, the first such conversation by the presidents of the two countries since they broke ties in 1979 after Egypt signed the Camp David peace treaty with Israel.
Relations have since improved, and the two countries now run interest sections through the Swiss embassies in Cairo and Tehran, operated by Iranian and Egyptian diplomats – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
