What Stops Iran and Egypt from Reconciliation

While last week Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Egyptian counterpart held three rounds of meetings on sidelines of Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm-el-Sheikh, the Iranian media seem to be reluctant to provide further news on the top-level talks and prefer to represent it as an ordinary handshake. But what urged Mottaki and Aboul Gheith to talk? Masoud Edirisi, former Iranian ambassador to Lebanon and Middle East affairs analyst comments on the significance of this meeting:

The impasse in Iran-Egypt ties goes back to the 1979 Camp David Treaty and Tehran’s withdrawal from bilateral relations. Since then, Iran-Egypt relations have undergone a sinuous course, sometimes a ray of hope for reconciliation and sometimes problems which worsened the already stormy relations.

The obstacles against Iran-Egypt rapprochement look more enormous than ever. One reason could be Iran’s regional policies particularly regarding the Palestinian issue, Gaza war and Lebanon’s developments. These policies are in contrast to Egypt’s approach. The countries’ propaganda against each other during the 22-day war in Gaza wrecked the hopes for reconciliation.

Iran-Egypt relations are now at their ebb, with the two countries having the most intense distrust against each other’s regional policies. This mistrust has ruled out any possibility that two influential Middle East states resume relations. The status quo does no good to these regimes, and their nations. They should try to overcome the impediments and mutual mistrust.

Iranian president could attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit held in Sharm-el-Sheikh after the foreign ministerial meeting. However, the quality of invitation was not pleasant for Iranian officials, and put beside the mutual distrust, made reconciliation even more difficult.

A message between Tehran and Cairo?

If news about Iranian FM Manouchehr Mottaki’s return to Tehran from Sharm-el-Sheikh (last Tuesday) and his re-visit to the Egyptian resort on Wednesday are true, chances of a message passed between Tehran and Cairo are more than minimal. With Mottaki’s shuttle between Tehran and Sharm-el-Sheikh we are eligible to conjecture that an important message from Cairo has forced the Iranian FM to travel to Tehran and return to Egypt promptly.

The unclear prospect of normal relations

The Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson’s claim that Tehran and Cairo enjoy normal relations and that they should avoid fixating on their disagreements shows that the trend has turned positive since the past months witnessed angry remarks exchanged between the two countries.

Egypt’s emphasis on having normal relations with Iran demonstrates that they are actually interested in having such relations with our country. However, we should not expect a flash normalization since many problems are in the way. Iran’s regional policies are not favored by Egyptians. But more important is the lack of trust between these two countries which hinders reconciliation in short-term. Egypt believes that Iran is interfering in its internal affairs and Iran is critical of Egypt’s Middle East policies.