Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Cair
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in CairReuters

An Egyptian citizen attempted to assault Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Cairo on Thursday evening.

According to a report in the website of the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, the assault occurred at the residence of Mojtaba Amani, the acting Iranian ambassador in Cairo, during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the Iranian Islamic Revolution.

The attacker attempted to physically assault Ahmadinejad as he chanted, “Down with Iran, he must leave,” Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

A journalist for the Turkish news agency Anadolu who was present at the scene said that the aggressor was swiftly removed by security guards.

This is the second attempted attack on the Iranian president during his stay in Cairo.

Earlier this week, a young Syrian man tried to assault Ahmadeinjad as he was coming out of a mosque, throwing his shoe at the Iranian president.

Egyptian security forces arrested four men on suspicion of involvement in the first attack.

Ahmadinejad’s visit to Cairo marked the first visit of an Iranian president to Egypt in over thirty years, since the 1979 Iranian revolution ruptured diplomatic ties between the two countries.

During his visit the Iranian president met with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohammed Morsi, as well as with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

The meeting between Ahmadinejad and Abbas came on the same day that the Iranian president proudly declared that the Iranian people are ready to march on Israel to “wipe it out” if the Jewish state attacks the Islamic Republic.

“The people of Iran are ready to march on Israel to wipe it out if it launches into an adventure against Tehran” and attacks the country, the Iranian president told Egyptian media.

“The Zionists... hope to aggress Iran and attack it, but they are very afraid of the Iranian reaction and of the consequences of such an attack,” he added.

“Our defense forces are capable of dissuading any aggressor and making him regret his act,” Ahmadinejad said.

On Monday, the Iranian president said that “the period of the Zionists is over” and said that Israelis “should give their place to others.”