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Press TV has talked with Mohamed Sharaf, political analyst from Cairo, to discuss the ongoing power struggle in Egypt following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

- Mr. Sharaf, some people have been saying that the Muslim Brotherhood deputy leader, Kheirat el-Shater, and others who have lead the Muslim Brotherhood have an interest now in turning the situation into something radical and confrontational. That in fact, they say, the majority of those in the new regime like ElBaradei and Beblawi, they want the Brotherhood to be a part of the new political process but the Muslim Brotherhood does not want that and this is not going to help. What do you say to that?

A lot of people are saying that the members of the interim government right now want the Islamic parties, the Muslim Brotherhood, to be in the political transition process and to move things forward but the Muslim Brotherhood by remaining defiant is only complicating the situation.

- Yes, whatever government and whatever will happen is illegitimate. You know, it is coming as a result of a coup, it is against the will of the people. We did not authorize them, we had a democratic path from which they deviated and they are coming on the tanks, you know, on the muzzle of a tank. So those people behind whatever they said as a roadmap, it is a map without a road, really.

So we see it as infringing on our rights, we are for democracy and the only gain which we had from the revolution of 2011 was to have our democratic path and to have a respect for our vote.

This time our votes have been stampeded on by this military coup. It is purely a military coup, it is uncalled-for, because if the process was the performance of the government or the performance of President Morsi we have the parliamentary elections coming soon and according to our new constitution if you win the parliament then you have the legislative power and also you form the cabinet. The cabinet has 70 percent of the powers, about 70 percent of the powers, so you can force your way, you can force your will, you can start whatever you think and even you can modify the constitution or amend the constitution in whatever way you think.

- But Mr. Sharaf, the thing is, the Muslim Brotherhood right now has been saying: we have a just cause and we are prepared to sacrifice for that cause but does this mean that there is going to be no compromise under any conditions with the Muslim Brotherhood and the interim government?

I mean is not that going to lead to further violence and bloodshed?

- You know, I am not really an Islamist but I see the Islamists are the people now abiding [by] and adhering to the democratic process. They had been demonstrating now or sitting in Rabaa al-Adawiya for 18 days.

They did not resort to any violence, the violence came from the government or the government forces. The coup, you know, killed the people at prayers, when they were saying prayers, when they were calling their god. So they were really peaceful, they were attacked badly, you know. We have about 100 martyrs and we have thousands of bad (serious) injuries.

So I do not really call the Muslim Brothers calling for any sort of violence but I am with them, you know, for staging a peaceful sit-in and a peaceful demonstration to return to normalcy because what really happens, there is nothing worse than infringing on our will by a military coup. It is taking our vote by force.

So those who are taking our vote by force, they have to resort to violence, and that is what we saw just a week ago in the massacre of people at prayers.

- Mr. Sharaf, we know that the United States has so far refused to call the situation in Egypt a coup d’état and William Burns, he was speaking in Cairo today, he said that this is a second chance for the Egyptians.

What do you think first of all his visit to Egypt is about? I mean the Muslim Brotherhood is saying that he was siding with the Military but those on the other side are, actually, saying that the United States is trying to vie for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The position of the United States here, William Burns said this is second chance for Egyptians. What do you think about the United States’ role in the situation? Is it taking sides?

- The United States had been a key player from the very first moment and not just right now, right after the revolution they had been intervening to shape the fluid state in Egypt and their main cause is to guarantee the security of Israel and to guarantee their interests and to make sure that Egypt is subservient to their causes in the Middle East and remains subservient to them just to serve Israel.

But what really happened, the American ambassador in Cairo, she had been a key player since November. I mean we have been seeing her inciting the opposition to stage demonstrations and asking them if you reach certain numbers we would be on your side and she had been staging all that and she had been part with the military in the last moment… for their take over, she was there, also, asking the president to sign for his abrogation. So this really is a clear intervention…

- Mr. Sharaf I will just jump in here if I may, we are very short of time. Just concluding remarks. Mr. Sharaf quickly if you can, if none of the two sides are going to enter into a compromise this will leave in a divided state and who is going to benefit from this?

- What compromise? If you take my vote I am not going to compromise. We have to return to normalcy. When they did their coup they said that people were out in the streets and they had a headcount. We ask them to have the headcount now and reverse their coup because what we will be after is our democratic process, we will preserve it and preserve our votes.