Latest case of active diplomacy ...
Page 1
Following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and the appointment of ambassadors after nearly 30 years, former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi made a historic first visit to Iran since the Iranian Revolution to participate in the Non-Aligned Movement summit on August 30, 2012, where Egypt handed over the rotating presidency to Iran. Iran’s then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also visited Egypt in February 2013, making him the first Iranian president to travel to Egypt since the Iranian Revolution.
Yet, ties were cut again in 2015, when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stated that Egypt has no relations with Iran on the Egyptian Extra News channel.
Later, regional countries put forward initiatives to mend Tehran-Cairo relations. In December 2022, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Iraq has put forward a proposal for holding talks between Tehran and Cairo at political and security levels to restore relations between the two countries.
The senior diplomat made the remarks in an interview with Iran’s Mizan news agency. Amir-Abdollahian said the proposal was made by Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani, whom he met on the sidelines of a regional conference held in the Jordanian capital of Amman. The foreign minister said he welcomed the Iraqi prime minister’s idea, adding that actions will be taken by al-Sudani in the upcoming weeks in order to facilitate such talks.
In an exclusive interview with Iran Daily, a European diplomat familiar with Middle East affairs said: “In general, we can assume that the Iran-Saudi reconciliation process — which did not come overnight, but, as is known, was the result of different series of talks — has prepared the ground for a more ambitious regional normalization, in which the relationship between Tehran and Cairo assume a strong relevance.”
“I believe the two processes are unrelated but behind the scenes, the overall regional scenario (i.e. the dynamics concerning Syria, Jordan, and the Persian Gulf in general) has been prepared for a more ambitious agenda. Many obstacles in the dialogue with Cairo have already been overcome during last years, and the Iraqi mediation can eventually contribute, giving it the final push to get to the finish line,” the diplomat added.
The diplomat seemed to believe that “in case the talks will get to the finish line, many problems in the region will be solved.” Yet, the diplomat remained skeptical of the sustainability of the normalization process.
“However, it would be naive to believe that this will be the end of the story as there are many spoilers ready to sabotage the process, as has been the case many times in the past. The overall normalization process would be sustainable only if the parties engage each other in keeping the process alive. It will not be easy. For sure, progress in the nuclear talks would eventually give a big boost to the process,” the diplomat concluded.