As the Arab world watches the historic events in Egypt and hopes for the best, other forces are trying to jump on to the popular uprising to make a point and settle scores with the current regime. One of these forces is the Islamist movement, which President Hosni Mubarak's secular-oriented government kept at bay for the past three decades.
Several days after the eruption of the protests two weeks ago, the Islamist movement in Egypt joined the Tahrir Square uprising in an obvious attempt to reap the fruits of the Egyptian youth's sacrifices.
Iran too is trying to meddle in the unprecedented protests. It is no secret that the relationship between Tehran and Cairo is as bad as it gets. Ties between the two countries were severed after Iran, fresh from its Islamic revolution, supported the Islamist group which was behind the assassination of president Anwar Sadat in 1981.
Today, Iran, which we all know wields strong influence over the religious-based groups and regimes in the region, hopes for the emergence of a ‘friendly' regime in Egypt, perhaps similar to the one in Hamas-controlled Gaza that would help Tehran expands its regional designs.
Iran, which claims to be keen on stability in the Arab world and pays lip service to regional harmony and cooperation needs to stop immediately any attempt to meddle in Egypt through its proxies or official positions.
