Morsi Says Egypt And US Are ‘Friends’ Not Allies

President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi said that his country and the United States were “true friends” but not necessarily allies. He made these comments in a interview published yesterday by the New York Times.

Morsi expected today in New York for a visit to the UN was asked about the remarks made in mid-September by U.S. President Barack Obama, who said that the United States does not “consider (the Egyptians) as allies nor enemies.”

Asked whether he considered his country as an ally of the United States, the Egyptian president was evasive, responding simply, “it depends on your definition of an ally.”

Morsi stressed, however, that the two countries were “true friends.”

Following statements made by Obama against a backdrop of clashes outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo, several American officials tried to rectify the situation.

The spokesman for the White House Jay Carney assured that Egypt was “a close and longtime partner to the United States,” while his counterpart at the State Department Victoria Nuland had stressed that Cairo remained “a ally of the United States.”