Hardline Sunni Islamists tried to break into a senior Iranian diplomat’s residence in Cairo yesterday in protest at warming ties with Tehran after a 30-year estrangement, but were repelled by Egyptian police, a witness said.

About 100 members of two purist Salafist groups demonstrated against Egypt’s recent steps to improve relations with Iran, which were cut off after the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution.

The protesters tore down an Iranian flag at the residence in a Cairo suburb and briefly hoisted the Syrian rebel flag in protest at Iran’s support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Government before police removed it.

The ultra-conservative Salafi protesters are, like most Egyptians, Sunni Muslims. They are concerned about what they see as Iranian efforts to spread Shi’ite Islam in Sunni countries.

Iran’s charge d’affaires, Mojtaba Amani, said in comments carried by the Egyptian state news agency Mena after the protest at his home that allegations that Shi’ite Islam was being spread in Egypt were a “major lie”.

“Sunni Egypt” is a source of strength to Iran, he said. (Reuters)