Egypt summons Iran's charge d'affaires over statement

Egypt Monday summoned Iranian charge d'affaires in Cairo Mojtaba Amani over Tehran's recent statements expressing concerns about Egypt's "security crackdown" on Islamist protesters, an official at the Egyptian foreign ministry told Xinhua.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham said Saturday that "Iran is concerned about the surge of violence as a result of conflict between security forces and demonstrators in Egypt".

The remarks were considered by Cairo as an interference in the Egyptian internal affairs.

On Saturday, the Egyptian foreign ministry also summoned the Qatari ambassador to express rejection of a recent official statement by Doha lashing out at Egypt's decision for labelling the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.

The Iranian and Qatari statements came after 17 people were killed across Egypt Friday in clashes between supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and the police during nationwide pro-Morsi protests.

On Nov 23, Egypt expelled Turkey's ambassador from Cairo a day after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for Morsi's release.

Iran, Qatar and Turkey have been major supporters of the Egyptian deposed Islamist president who was removed by the military in early July following mass protests against his one-year rule.