Egypt on Sunday defended its idea of forming a regional contact group on Syria which would include Iran, a staunch Damascus ally, insisting that Tehran could "be part of the solution" to the Syrian crisis. President Mohamed Morsi proposed at this month's Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Mecca creating such a group made up of Egypt and Iran, as well as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, two countries supporting the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime. "If this group succeeds, Iran would be part of the solution and not the problem," Morsi's spokesman Yassir Ali told reporters. "Solving the problem demands inviting all parties active in the region," he said, noting that Tehran was an "influential partner" of Damascus. Morsi will attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran on August 30 when he will pass the movement's presidency from Egypt to Iran. It will be the first visit by an Egyptian head of state since the two countries severed diplomatic relations more than 30 years ago.