If there remained any doubts that Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi intends to play a more active regional role and is committed to regime change in Syria, they were laid to rest on 5 September when he told a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo that Egypt and its people will “return to occupy their natural place at the heart of the Arab nation” and that as far as Syria is concerned the time has come for “change and not wasting time speaking of reform.” He also claimed that his attempt to convene a meeting of the four regional powers principally involved in Syria – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Egypt – was succeeding and that the “quartet which Egypt has called for…will meet now.”  If that is true, such a meeting would provide the first forum in which regional rivals in Syria have met, which might lead to some interesting discussions. But at the moment, particularly after the non-aligned summit in Tehran last week, it is hard to see the Iranians agreeing to negotiations in which they will be outnumbered three to one.