Iran-Egypt rapprochement key to regional convergence

In the 1930s, the relations of the two kingdoms were developed to such an extent that family ties between the two courts overshadowed the political ties between the two states and their national interests in regard to the regional and international situation.

However, a dark cloud arose over Iran-Egypt relations in 1952 when Egypt’s Free Officers movement led by General Mohammed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk.

The shah of Iran assumed a tough stance toward the new republic and this led to serious media disputes between the countries.

During the Six-Day War of June 1967, the shah of Iran openly declared his support for the Zionist regime. As a result, Iran became politically isolated in the Islamic and Arab world.

After the death of President Nasser in 1970, his successor Anwar Sadat took a 180-degree turn on Iran and established strong ties with the shah.

President Sadat ordered the 20,000 Soviet military advisers who had been stationed in Egypt to leave the country to affirm his inclination toward the West and the United States.

This approach, Sadat’s visit to Beit-ul-Moqaddas in 1977, and the 1979 Camp David Accords signed by Sadat and then Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, which had been drawn up with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter as the intermediary, led to Egypt’s political isolation in the Islamic world.

After the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979 and Iran’s decision to adopt new stances on the Palestinians’ rights, the country’s relations with Egypt went sour, to the extent that Sadat fully supported the U.S. military operation to rescue the workers of the U.S. Den of Spies (U.S. Embassy), which had to be aborted after a helicopter crash in Tabas, eastern Iran.

From the beginning of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war until his assassination in 1981, Sadat supported Iraq, and this led to diplomatic ties between the two countries being cut.

In this tense political climate, the two countries began accusing each other of intervention in each other’s internal affairs and for a while even the Iranian and Egyptian interest sections in Cairo and Tehran were shut down.

But the two countries’ roles in the region and in the Islamic world have always been significant, and thus their severed relations broke an important link of the Islamic world.

The fact that Iran and Egypt have large populations, their geopolitical influence in the region, and their important roles in the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of the Islamic Conference have given the countries special political significance.

Thus, the continuation of this state of affairs, in which Iran and Egypt have no diplomatic relations, is not in the interests of the Islamic world, especially Palestine and Iraq.

In light of this, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad announced Iran’s intention to resume relations with Egypt during his recent visit to the United Arab Emirates.

But is there a similar determination in Egypt to thaw relations?

Apparently, Egypt’s foreign policy is greatly influenced by regional and international powers. The country seems unable to formulate an independent foreign policy based on its own national interests and the interests of the Islamic world.

Thus, Egypt regards the resolution of the Iran-U.S. dispute as a precondition for resuming relations with Iran. This is the major obstacle in the way of efforts to reestablish good relations between the two countries.

Yet, it is obvious that the Iranian and Egyptian nations need to resume relations.

The ball is in Egypt’s court now and the two sides can clearly benefit from reestablishing and strengthening relations, but only if the U.S. referee, who is biased in Egypt’s favor, is expelled.

PA/HG

END

MNA