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CAIRO — Egypt is to sue an Iranian news agency for having allegedly fabricated an interview with president-elect Mohammed Morsi, the official MENA news agency reported on Wednesday.

It quoted the Islamist leader’s spokesman Yassir Ali as saying Fars news agency made up the widely quoted interview in which Morsi said he would improve ties with Iran and revise Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

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“Legal action will be taken against the Iranian Fars news agency which fabricated an interview,” Ali said.

Morsi is the first Islamist president in Egypt’s history and its first elected leader since an uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

In the interview, Morsi, said he wants to “reconsider” the peace deal with Israel and build ties with Iran to “create a strategic balance” in the Middle East.

The stated goals, if true, are certain to alarm Israel and its ally the United States as they adapt to the new direction Egypt will chart with Morsi at the helm.