CAIRO, EGYPT (BNO NEWS) – Egypt on Friday canceled the scheduled meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki after he said that all participants, including Egypt, in the direct peace talks were traitors, the Daily News Egypt reported.

Mottaki was supposed to meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Ghiet regarding the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) troika on Sunday. The Iranian Charge d’Affaires in Cairo was summoned to clarify Mottaki's unfortunate remarks.

"Some Palestinian leaders are these days following an order from America and building the table of negotiation with heads of the Zionist regime, with the participation of certain Arab leaders. They should know that they are traitors to the Palestinian people and the negotiation is a nail in the coffin of [those who support] compromise," Mottaki said during a speech in a Tehran mosque.

Egyptian analysts said that the comments were attempting to cast doubt on the Egyptian, American and moderate Arab states' efforts to resume the peace talks as no Iranian allies like Hamas were included in the negotiations.

Iran has a struggling relationship with U.S.-allied Arab nations, which sees Tehran's growing influence in the Middle East with concern because of suspicions over its nuclear program and its support for radical Islamic groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

On Thursday, Ghiet said that the upcoming visit of Mottaki could represent an improvement in the bilateral relations between both nations.

Iran severed ties with Egypt after it signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979 and provided asylum to Iran's deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

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