Egypt Makes Overtures to Iran

He said he hoped the new environment would lead to an upgrade of relations. Al-Arabi said in April that Egypt was ready to “open a new page” with Iran and that the government no longer saw Iran as an enemy state. But the foreign minister wouldn’t say whether Egypt would go as far as to open an embassy in Tehran.

The two countries were bitter enemies during the rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but since he was forced to step down, there have been some signs of a thaw. In March, Egypt allowed two Iranian warships to sail through the Suez Canal for the first time since the Shah’s overthrow in 1979.