Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Visits Egypt After Years Of Diplomatic Hostility
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Visits Egypt After Years Of Diplomatic Hostility
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Egypt’s capital, Cairo, this Tuesday making him the first Iranian chief of state to visit since the two countries stopped their diplomatic relations close to thirty years ago.
This seemed unattainable during the Hosni Mubarak period as the former Egyptian president was fervently against Iran’s leadership while being more prone to talks with U.S., Israel and the Persian Gulf Monarchies.
However, since the Arab Spring relationships have warmed between the two countries, as Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar noted during a press conference “Egypt is a very important country in the region and the Islamic Republic of Iran believes it is one of the heavyweights in the Middle East … We are ready to further strengthen ties.”
During their meeting Mohamed Morsi and Mahmud Ahmadinejad talked about “enhancing” the relationship between the two states. They also touched on a number of other topics including economic ties and the situation in Syria.
Even with this week’s visit analysts say that full ties between Egypt and Iran aren't going to be restored any time soon, especially seeing how Egypt’s main alleys and sometimes financial backers in the Gulf Monarchies are tied to the U.S. who don’t have the best diplomatic relations with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Iran.
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