Following the breakthrough developments of the Saudi Arabia-Iran normalization and Syria normalization in March, there are apparently great efforts underway to re-establish diplomatic relations between Iran and Egypt. Such a move would be another groundbreaking development for Southwest Asia/North Africa , as tensions between Iran and Egypt go back to 1979, and have remained rocky ever since.
On May 14, Fada Hossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, reported that negotiations had been ongoing between Iran and Egypt in Iraq, and that he expects the two countries will restore their relations in the near future. According to “Middle East sources” of The Cradle, that mediation is being led by Iraq’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani. It is also reported that Cairo is still lukewarm about the whole thing, however, it appears these negotiations are scheduled to increase in the near future.
At the end of May, the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, travelled to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ostensibly carrying a message from Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi “conveying Egypt’s willingness for the resumption of ties with Iran,” according to Khamenei’s website. Sultan Haitham had also paid a visit to Cairo the week before, where he met with President el-Sisi, which meeting itself had come immediately after this year’s Arab League summit at which these discussions were likely on the agenda. One analyst quoted by Turkiye’s Anadolu Agency said that the “decks have been cleared for Iran-Egypt détente.”
