CAIRO/JERUSALEM  - Defence Secretary Leon Panetta reaffirmed US support for Egypt’s democratic transition and stability during a lightning visit to Cairo on Tuesday as part of a regional tour.Panetta met Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), as well as newly elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.“My message today was consistent with our previous conversations - the US strongly supports an orderly, peaceful and legitimate transition to a democratic system of government here in Egypt,” Panetta told reporters.“I believe (Tantawi) was critical in overseeing a peaceful, free and fair election. I commended him and the SCAF and their positive role in the process,” he said.Mursi and the SCAF - which ruled Egypt after a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak in February last year - have been locked in a power struggle since the Islamist took office in June.But Panetta said he was “pleased to hear Field Marshal Tantawi’s firm commitment to the transition to full civilian rule.”For the first time since the ouster of the monarchy in 1952, Egypt’s head of state has not emerged from military ranks.Panetta stressed “the importance of promoting a broad-based coalition that is critical to the success of the government here in Egypt”Later on, Panetta arrived in Israel for talks to share information on Iran’s nuclear programme, although he said there would be no discussion about “potential attack plans.”“We have in the past and we’ll continue to discuss the situation with regards to Iran and the threat that it poses in the region,” the Pentagon chief told a news conference in Cairo before flying to Jerusalem.Earlier, Mursi told Israel he wanted to work for peace in the Middle East, in the first official message sent by the Arab state’s new Islamist leadership to the Jewish state.Politicians in Israel had expressed alarm in private over the election of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mursi in June’s presidential vote and fear that over time their country’s peace treaty with Egypt could be eroded.“I am looking forward to exerting our best efforts to get the Middle East peace process back to its right track in order to achieve security and stability for all peoples of the region, including (the) Israeli people,” Mursi said in the letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres.

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