by Muhammad Yamany, Chen Gongzheng

    CAIRO, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates vowed Tuesday that the Obama administration's engagement with Iran would not be at the expense of its major regional Arab allies, especially Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

    "Some kind of grand bargain (with Iran) developed in secret is completely unrealistic and I would say, is not going to happen," Gates said at a press conference after his talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

    "Reaching out to Iran with an open hand in no way minimizes or changes the strong security relationship and political relationship that the U.S. has with Egypt and Saudi Arabia and other long-term friends in the region," he said.

    "We will keep our friends informed of what is going on," the U.S. defense chief said, adding that Washington will be "open and transparent about the contacts."

    So far, no remarks from the Egyptian presidency are available.

    On Monday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit conferred with special advisor to U.S. Secretary of State for South Asia and Gulf affairs, Denis Ross, on the U.S.-Iranian relations.

    They discussed the U.S. new approach aiming at positive engagement with Iran in order to achieve a change in its behavior regarding the nuclear issue and generally in the region, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hosam Zaki said in a statement issued after the meeting.

    Abul Gheit expressed his hope that the U.S. new approach could succeed in making the needed changes regarding Iran, according to Zaki.

    U.S. President Barack Obama tendered olive branch to Iran two months after his inauguration. On March 20, the Iranian New Year, Obama said in a videotaped speech that his administration was committed to addressing issues between the two countries and pursuing "constructive ties."

    But the U.S. overture ran into cold shoulders of the Islamic Republic, which asked for more concrete steps, rather than rhetoric. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is still waiting to see "basic changes" in Obama's policies.

    The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran on April 7, 1980, after a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and captured some 60 U.S. diplomats in 1979, with 52 of them being held in captivity for 444 days in the hostage crisis.

    Nineteen days after Obama's speech on Iran, Egypt, irked by the prospect of the comeback of the traditional Persian feud, launched a crackdown against an alleged Hezbollah cell under the banner of "national security."

    On April 8, Egyptian Attorney General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud said Egypt had spotted 49 men for allegedly being Hezbollah agents, accusing them of planning "hostile operations."

    But Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite group that is backed by Iran, denied the accusations, saying they were providing logistical assistance for the Palestinians.

    Egypt's maneuver has drawn backlashes from Iran, which accused the Arab kingpin of trying to influence the upcoming Lebanese elections.

    "Labels against... Hezbollah and (its chief) Hassan Nasrallah are an old and frayed trick and will not achieve anything," said Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

    Egypt and Shiite Iran do not have full diplomatic relations since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, when Iran cut ties after the then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat hosted the deposed Iranian shah in Cairo.

    Brushing aside the accusation, Mubarak lashed out in his Labor Day speech on April 29 at "regional powers," whose "plans accommodate terror and extremism and openly reject peace," referring to the Islamic Republic that backs Hamas and Hezbollah.

    "Any U.S.-Iran dialogue should not overlook Egyptian concerns over "Iran's attempt to exercise hegemony over the region," the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Thursday, quoting diplomatic sources.

    "We realize... that the United States needs to win Iran over before the withdrawal (from Iraq) ... but we also want to make sure that the United States is aware of ... that Iran is inducing on the Palestinian front, in Lebanon and across the Arab world," the newspaper added, quoting an anonymous Egyptian official.

    Earlier on April 23, the president said that he was determined to face up to the Iranian attempts to sweep over the region.

    "We will not tolerate the interventions of regional forces ... only to serve their agenda and to expand their influence," said Mubarak on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the liberation of Sinai Peninsular.