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Iraq Announces Two Coronavirus Deaths

FILE PHOTO: Iraqi men ride a motorbike as they wear protective masks, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Najaf, Iraq February 24, 2020. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani
FILE PHOTO: Iraqi men ride a motorbike as they wear protective masks, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Najaf, Iraq February 24, 2020. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani
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Iraq Announces Two Coronavirus Deaths

FILE PHOTO: Iraqi men ride a motorbike as they wear protective masks, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Najaf, Iraq February 24, 2020. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani
FILE PHOTO: Iraqi men ride a motorbike as they wear protective masks, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Najaf, Iraq February 24, 2020. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani

Iraq announced on Wednesday the death of two patients from the coronavirus. A 70-year-old cleric died in the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniyah, the first death from the outbreak. The second death was reported in Baghdad, said the health ministry.

The Iraqi preacher had been quarantined in the northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah before his death, a spokesman for the Kurdish autonomous region's health authority said.

According to local sources, he had recently met with Iraqis returning from Iran, which has recorded the third deadliest outbreak outside China, the epidemic’s epicenter.

Iraq has so far recorded 31 cases of COVID-19, one Iranian student who has since been sent home and 30 Iraqis who had all visited Iran recently.

Iraqi authorities have closed land borders with Iran and banned the entry of foreign nationals traveling from there and other badly affected countries.

Iraq’s border port commission said on Wednesday it would halt trade between Iraq and both Iran and Kuwait for a week from March 8 over coronavirus concerns, according to the Iraqi state news agency.

The border port commission added that Iraqis now in Iran would be allowed to enter Iraq until March 15.

Schools, universities, cinemas, cafes and other public places in Iraq have been ordered shut until March 7 to further contain the outbreak, but many continue to operate normally.

Responding to Wednesday's death, Sulaimaniyah Governor Haval Abu Bakr told reporters that all rallies in the province will be banned and that all football matches will now be held behind closed doors.

Local religious authorities for their part announced a ban on mass prayers, including on Fridays, until further notice.

Arab Gulf

Oman on Wednesday registered three new coronavirus cases in people who had visited Iran. It identified them as two Iranians and one Omani.

Wednesday’s cases bring the tally to five, said the health ministry, revealing that two patients have “completely recovered.”

In Bahrain, the health ministry said a citizen, who had contracted the disease in Iran, has recovered. He has been released from isolation at hospital. Medical teams will continue to monitor his recovery.

Eight patients were also released from quarantine. The majority of them had returned to the country from Iran.

North Africa

In Egypt, the cabinet has decided to bar the entry of Qatari nationals, including those who have valid residency in Egypt.

The measure will take effect from March 6 until further notice.

Tunisia will suspend passenger ferry services to northern Italy and take other measures in response to the spreading coronavirus, Health Minister Abdelatif el-Mekki said on Wednesday.

Tunisia confirmed its first case of the coronavirus on Monday, a Tunisian national who had recently arrived from Italy by sea.

In another preventive measure, flights from northern Italy will use a separate terminal at Tunis airport to keep passengers apart before a screening process.

In addition, foreign football fans will be banned from attending games with local clubs, Mekki told a news conference. Two Tunisian teams are scheduled to play against clubs from Morocco and Egypt in the coming days.

Tunisia’s neighbor Algeria has registered nine cases of the coronavirus. Morocco and Egypt have also reported cases. Libya remains the only North African country without a registered patient.

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Arab World

UN: Nearly 70% of Syria’s Population Needs Aid

30 May 2023, Syria, Idlib: Workers seal sacks of plastic items collected from landfills, before transfering them to be crushed and recycled into usable products. Photo: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa
30 May 2023, Syria, Idlib: Workers seal sacks of plastic items collected from landfills, before transfering them to be crushed and recycled into usable products. Photo: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa
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UN: Nearly 70% of Syria’s Population Needs Aid

30 May 2023, Syria, Idlib: Workers seal sacks of plastic items collected from landfills, before transfering them to be crushed and recycled into usable products. Photo: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa
30 May 2023, Syria, Idlib: Workers seal sacks of plastic items collected from landfills, before transfering them to be crushed and recycled into usable products. Photo: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa

For the first time in Syria’s 12-year war, people in every district are experiencing some degree of “humanitarian stress,” and a staggering 15.3 million — nearly 70% of the population — need humanitarian aid, the United Nations said Tuesday.

A UN appeal for $5.4 billion to help over 14 million people in Syria is less than 10% funded and the UN World Food Program has warned that without additional money, 2.5 million people are at risk of losing food or cash assistance from July.

The dire humanitarian situation, compounded by the February earthquake that devastated the opposition-held northwest, was spelled out to the Security Council by the UN humanitarian office’s operations director Edem Wosornu.

The Syrian people “are more and more reliant on humanitarian assistance as basic services and critical infrastructure are on the brink of collapse," she said.

According to The Associated Press, Wosornu urged generous pledges and the swift release of funds at a European Union hosted conference in Brussels on June 14-15. She said “Syrians need the support of the international community now more than at any time in the past 12 years.”

She said the need to maintain the delivery of humanitarian aid to the northwest is even more critical after the earthquake. She said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a 12-month extension of the UN mandate, which expires in July, saying the assistance is “indispensable” and “a matter of life and death for millions of people” in the region.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States will seek a council resolution to extend aid deliveries through the three border crossings currently operating: Bab Al-Hawa, which was the single crossing Russia would allow to remain open in January, as well as Bab Al-Salam and Al Raée, which Syria’s President Bashar Assad agreed to open after the quake, which killed over 6,000 in Syria and has displaced over 330,000. Assad has agreed to keep the two additional crossings open through Aug. 13.

Arab World

5 Members of Palestinian Armed Group Killed in Blast on Lebanese-Syrian Border

The site of the blast in Qusaya. (Safa)
The site of the blast in Qusaya. (Safa)
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5 Members of Palestinian Armed Group Killed in Blast on Lebanese-Syrian Border

The site of the blast in Qusaya. (Safa)
The site of the blast in Qusaya. (Safa)

Five members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine armed group were killed in an overnight explosion near Lebanon's border with Syria, security sources told Reuters on Wednesday, with the group blaming Israeli air strikes.

An Israeli source told Reuters the Israeli military was not involved in the Syria-Lebanon border blast. Lebanon's army declined to comment.

A PFLP statement on Wednesday said five of its members were killed in Israeli bombing on a site controlled by the group near the border. The group's spokesman in Damascus Anwar Raja told Reuters an Israeli strike on the Lebanese town of Qusaya had killed five members, including fighters, and wounded 10.

A representative for the PFLP in Lebanon Abu Kifah Ghazi said airplanes had been heard over the PFLP position all night.

But a Palestinian security source told Reuters the deaths were the result of mines exploding as the PFLP members were moving them. The two Lebanese security sources said they could not confirm the blast was the result of an Israeli strike.

The Israeli military told Reuters it does not comment on reports in foreign media. A correspondent for Israel's Army Radio, citing Israeli officials, said "there was no Israeli attack on the PFLP along the Lebanon-Syria border".

The PFLP, founded in 1968, is sanctioned by the United States and the European Union.

Arab World

Sudan Army Suspends Truce Talks with RSF 

A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. (Reuters)
A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. (Reuters)
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Sudan Army Suspends Truce Talks with RSF 

A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. (Reuters)
A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. (Reuters)

The Sudanese army has suspended its participation in US- and Saudi-brokered ceasefire talks with its paramilitary foes, a government official told AFP on Wednesday.  

The army took the decision "because the rebels have never implemented a single one of the provisions of a short-term ceasefire which required their withdrawal from hospitals and residential buildings, and have repeatedly violated the truce", the Sudanese official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The negotiations with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began in early May, had produced a declaration of commitments to protect civilians and two short-term ceasefire deals, although those deals were repeatedly violated. 

Residents reported heavy clashes in southern Khartoum and in Omdurman across the River Nile until late on Tuesday. 

The army, which relies on airpower and artillery, and the RSF, a more lightly armed force but a tough adversary in Khartoum street battles, had agreed to extend a week-long ceasefire deal by five days just before its Monday expiry. 

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, a career military officer, and RSF General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a former militia commander known as Hemedti, have been locked in a battle for power since April 15. Neither side seems to have an edge. 

The RSF said in a statement late on Tuesday it was committed to the ceasefire "despite repeated violations" by the army. 

Before the ceasefire deal was renewed, an army source said the army had demanded the RSF withdraw from civilian homes and hospitals as a condition for an extension. After the five-day extension was agreed, talks continued on the terms of the truce. 

The truce was brokered and is being remotely monitored by Saudi Arabia and the United States. They say it has been violated by both sides but has nonetheless allowed the delivery of aid to an estimated 2 million people. 

The war has killed hundreds of people and forced nearly 1.4 million people to flee their homes, with more than 350,000 of those heading to neighbouring countries. 

Khartoum and the capital area have been the site of the heaviest fighting, although clashes have erupted in other regions, including Darfur, a region in Sudan's far west. 

The capital has seen widespread looting and frequent power and water supply cuts. Most hospitals have stopped functioning. 

The United Nations, some aid agencies, embassies and parts of Sudan's central government have moved operations to Port Sudan, the main shipping hub on the Red Sea which has seen little unrest. 

After long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was toppled in an popular uprising in 2019, the army and RSF leaders staged a coup in 2021 before they due to hand leadership to civilians. They fell out over the chain of command and restructuring of the RSF under the planned transition. 

Arab World

Iraq Anticipates Iranian Strike against Kurdish Opposition

Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani and National Security Advisor, Qasim Al-Araji sign the agreement documents, in the presence of Al-Sudani in Baghdad in March. (Reuters)
Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani and National Security Advisor, Qasim Al-Araji sign the agreement documents, in the presence of Al-Sudani in Baghdad in March. (Reuters)
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Iraq Anticipates Iranian Strike against Kurdish Opposition

Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani and National Security Advisor, Qasim Al-Araji sign the agreement documents, in the presence of Al-Sudani in Baghdad in March. (Reuters)
Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani and National Security Advisor, Qasim Al-Araji sign the agreement documents, in the presence of Al-Sudani in Baghdad in March. (Reuters)

Iraq anticipated a potential Iranian strike against the Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan region, through tours conducted by National Security Advisor Qasim Al-Araji to Baghdad, Sulaymaniyah and Tehran.

In March, Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani’s government signed a security protocol for cooperation and coordination with Iran, on the sidelines of a visit by the Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, to Baghdad.

Since then and until the beginning of May, the Iraqi Border Guard forces set up more than 30 surveillance towers in the Kurdistan region, on the Iraqi-Iranian border, to prevent smuggling from both sides, according to a security report.

Last week, Al-Araji discussed with the military attaché at the Tehran embassy in Baghdad, measures to secure the borders between the two countries.

Al-Araji’s office reported that he had “received a directive from Sudani to travel to the Kurdistan region to discuss the same issue with officials there.”

Meanwhile, Iranian officials who visited Iraq, since the beginning of 2023, focused on the matter of “armed Kurdish groups opposing Tehran, which are active in areas of the Kurdistan region.” Tehran has always repeated that it “will not, under any circumstances, accept threats from Iraqi soil.”

During a meeting earlier this month, Al-Araji discussed with the Minister of Interior of the Kurdistan Region, Rebar Ahmed, securing the borders with Iran, before the Iraqi official traveled to Sulaymaniyah to meet the leader of the Patriotic Union, Bafel Talabani.

The two Kurdish officials said, in separate statements, that the security authorities in the region were working to complete the procedures stipulated in the “security report”.

Various Kurdish sources noted that the Kurdish parties were facing difficulties in dealing with the Iranian Kurdish opposition groups. In fact, a number of those belong to leftist currents that have historical ties and interests with local groups.

Other sources said that the issue “goes beyond historical national ties, and involves political maneuvers related to the internal conflict in the Kurdistan region.”

In Iran, Al-Araji met on Monday with the Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Ali Akbar Ahmadian. According to Iraqi sources, the latter received Iraqi pledges to control the borders, and messages from Kurdish parties about “guarantees not to allow any opposition group to target Iran’s interests.”

However, Kurdish sources stressed that Iran wanted to “expel these groups from Iraqi territory.”

Ahmadian told the Iraqi delegation that Tehran wanted “to end the presence of the Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in the Kurdistan region.”

He described the security protocol signed between the two countries as “a road map that guarantees the security and stability of the common borders.”

Arab World

Burhan: Sudanese Army Ready to ‘Fight until Victory’

Al-Burhan visiting his soldiers on Tuesday (Sudanese Armed Forces Facebook page)
Al-Burhan visiting his soldiers on Tuesday (Sudanese Armed Forces Facebook page)
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Burhan: Sudanese Army Ready to ‘Fight until Victory’

Al-Burhan visiting his soldiers on Tuesday (Sudanese Armed Forces Facebook page)
Al-Burhan visiting his soldiers on Tuesday (Sudanese Armed Forces Facebook page)

The head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, Army Commander Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, visited on Tuesday the bases of his forces, praising the loyalty of the entire Sudanese people to the army.

In a speech on the occasion, Al-Burhan said that that the armed forces “have not yet exploited their full power so as not to destroy the country.”

“But if the enemy does not obey or comply, we will be forced to use our utmost powers,” he added.

Al-Burhan noted that that the armed forces agreed to a ceasefire to facilitate the flow of services to citizens, who were exhausted by the violations of the rebels.

He described the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a “rebel militia”, which he said “plundered the people’s property, violated their sanctities, and tortured and killed them.”

Al-Burhan stressed that the armed forces would remain “ready to fight until victory,” adding that they fully controlled all military sites in Sudan.

Fighting renewed between the army and the RSF and clashes broke out in separate areas of the capital, despite an agreement reached on Monday over the renewal of a short-term ceasefire for an additional five days.

Othman Jaafar, from the Haj Yusuf area, east of Khartoum, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We hear the heavy exchange of bullets near our area.”

The forces of Freedom and Change – the former ruling coalition - called on the leaders of the army and the RSF to abide by the ceasefire agreement, to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

The coalition strongly condemned the continued armed presence in residential areas and service facilities, as well as attacks on civilians, and urged the two sides to stop the clashes immediately, hold the perpetrators accountable, and return the looted property.

For its part, the United Nations said that fighting continues between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF in Khartoum and other parts of the country, despite the ceasefire, which took effect on May 22.

The UN reported that the fighting since April 15 has forced nearly 1.4 million people to flee their homes, inside and outside the country.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about 345,000 Sudanese have crossed into neighboring countries, including Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Central Africa, and Ethiopia.

Arab World

US Targets Syrian Money Service Businesses in Fresh Sanctions

The Treasury Department is pictured in Washington, US, April 25, 2021. (Reuters)
The Treasury Department is pictured in Washington, US, April 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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US Targets Syrian Money Service Businesses in Fresh Sanctions

The Treasury Department is pictured in Washington, US, April 25, 2021. (Reuters)
The Treasury Department is pictured in Washington, US, April 25, 2021. (Reuters)

The United States on Tuesday imposed punitive measures on two Syrian money service businesses it said help the government maintain access to the international financial system in violation of sanctions, in Washington's first action targeting Syria since its readmittance to the Arab League earlier this month.

The US Treasury Department in a statement accused the two money service businesses, Al-Fadel Exchange and Al-Adham Exchange Company, of helping President Bashar al-Assad's government and its allies, Hezbollah and Iran's Quds Force, an arm of its Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

The sanctions were imposed under the Caesar Act that also levied a tough round of sanctions on Syria in 2020.

The United States has said it will not normalize ties with Assad and has said Syria did not merit readmission into the Arab League.

Arab World

Iraqi Kurdistan 2022 Parliament Extension Unconstitutional, Supreme Court Rules

In this picture taken on May 16, 2023, people walk past the citadel of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. (AFP)
In this picture taken on May 16, 2023, people walk past the citadel of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. (AFP)
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Iraqi Kurdistan 2022 Parliament Extension Unconstitutional, Supreme Court Rules

In this picture taken on May 16, 2023, people walk past the citadel of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. (AFP)
In this picture taken on May 16, 2023, people walk past the citadel of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. (AFP)

Iraq's federal supreme court ruled on Tuesday that a one-year extension of the term of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region parliament in 2022 was unconstitutional and undermined democracy in the country, its top judge Jassim Mohammed said.

All decisions issued by the regional parliament from the date of its term extension on Oct. 9, 2022, were therefore considered null and void, Mohammed said.

Kurdistan, which has enjoyed wide autonomy from Baghdad since the 1990s, has in the past ignored rulings by the federal supreme court, including a Feb. 2022 ruling that deemed its oil and gas law unconstitutional.

With its capital in Erbil, Kudistan is home to more than 5 million people out of Iraq's 43 million population and produces about 450,000 barrels of oil per day, though exports were halted in March.

Baghded-Erbil relations have been fractious for years with disagreements over energy resources and disputed territories.

The ruling could raise tensions amid discussions over a draft federal budget that the Kurdistan Regional Government has said includes changes it opposes.

Ruling Kurdish parties, including the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), agreed to the 2022 extension after failing to reach consensus on a new electoral law.

They pledged to hold elections in November 2023, but have yet to reach consensus on new regulations.

On May 22, KDP and PUK lawmakers brawled inside the regional parliament's chamber during discussions on electoral regulations, a sign that agreement remained far off.

Arab World

Libya Court Sentences 23 to Death for ISIS Campaign

Suspects sit behind bars during a judgement sentence against 56 defendants accused of joining ISIL [ISIS], in a court in Misrata, Libya [Ayman al-Sahili/Reuters]
Suspects sit behind bars during a judgement sentence against 56 defendants accused of joining ISIL [ISIS], in a court in Misrata, Libya [Ayman al-Sahili/Reuters]
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Libya Court Sentences 23 to Death for ISIS Campaign

Suspects sit behind bars during a judgement sentence against 56 defendants accused of joining ISIL [ISIS], in a court in Misrata, Libya [Ayman al-Sahili/Reuters]
Suspects sit behind bars during a judgement sentence against 56 defendants accused of joining ISIL [ISIS], in a court in Misrata, Libya [Ayman al-Sahili/Reuters]

A Libyan court sentenced 23 people to death and another 14 to life in prison on Monday for their role in a deadly ISIS militant campaign that included beheading a group of Egyptian Christians and seizing the city of Sirte in 2015.

The Attorney General's office said in a statement that one other person was sentenced to 12 years in prison, six to 10 years, one to five years and six to three years while five were acquitted and three others died before their case came to trial.

ISIS's Libyan branch was one of the militant group's strongest outside its original territory in Iraq and Syria, taking advantage of the chaos and warfare that followed a 2011 NATO-backed uprising, Reuters said.

In 2015 it launched an attack on the luxury Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, killing nine people, before abducting and beheading dozens of Egyptian Christians whose deaths it featured in grisly propaganda films.

After gaining territory in Benghazi, Derna and Ajdabiya in eastern Libya, the group seized the central coastal city of Sirte, holding it until late 2016 as it enforced a harsh regime of public morality backed up by brutal punishments.

Mustafa Salem Trabulsi, head of an organization for bereaved families of people killed or disappeared by the group said he had hoped that all the suspects would face the death penalty but he accepted the outcome.

"My son is missing and my relative, my brother-in-law, was murdered in Sirte Square," he said.

Speaking in court on Monday, Fawzia Arhuma said she welcomed the death sentences after her son was killed by the group at a power station near Sirte.

"Today my son raised my head. Today I buried my son," she said.

 

Arab World

After Erdogan’s Elections Victory, Türkiye Holds Back on Assad Meeting

A view shows a roundabout with a sculpture featuring the Turkish flag and the Syrian opposition flag, in the opposition-held city of Azaz, Syria May 15, 2023.(Reuters)
A view shows a roundabout with a sculpture featuring the Turkish flag and the Syrian opposition flag, in the opposition-held city of Azaz, Syria May 15, 2023.(Reuters)
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After Erdogan’s Elections Victory, Türkiye Holds Back on Assad Meeting

A view shows a roundabout with a sculpture featuring the Turkish flag and the Syrian opposition flag, in the opposition-held city of Azaz, Syria May 15, 2023.(Reuters)
A view shows a roundabout with a sculpture featuring the Turkish flag and the Syrian opposition flag, in the opposition-held city of Azaz, Syria May 15, 2023.(Reuters)

Türkiye has slowed down the pace of its efforts to normalize ties with Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has no plans to hold talks with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in the first presidential statement following Erdogan’s reelection for a third five-year term on Sunday.

"So far, there is no date for such a meeting... We need to see what steps the Syrian side will take," he said in a televised interview on Monday.

The foreign ministers of Türkiye, Russia, Syria and Iran had met in Moscow on May 10 to push forward normalization between Ankara and Damascus.

At the time, Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu said intense efforts will be made to normalize relations, hinting that a meeting between Erdogan and Assad may be held this year.

The only obstacle to the meeting was the Turkish military deployment in northern Syria.

Assad had said that he would not meet his Turkish counterpart before the complete troop withdrawal.

For his part, Erdogan had stressed that Türkiye will not pull out its forces and that they would continue their mission to combat “terrorist organizations” - a reference to the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that Ankara views as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Cavusoglu had warned that the withdrawal will allow such groups to fill the void left by the Turkish troops.

Arab World

Egypt is Open to ‘Positive Iranian Signals’ on Developing Relations

Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during his reception of the Sultan of Oman, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, and his accompanying delegation (Khamenei website)
Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during his reception of the Sultan of Oman, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, and his accompanying delegation (Khamenei website)
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Egypt is Open to ‘Positive Iranian Signals’ on Developing Relations

Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during his reception of the Sultan of Oman, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, and his accompanying delegation (Khamenei website)
Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during his reception of the Sultan of Oman, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, and his accompanying delegation (Khamenei website)

Iran has displayed several signs about its willingness to boost bilateral relations with Egypt, according to well-informed Egyptian sources on Tuesday.

 

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Cairo is open to developing bilateral ties with Tehran in a manner consistent with the main political determinants that govern Egypt's regional policies.

 

Relations between Egypt and Iran have often been fraught in recent decades, although the two countries have maintained diplomatic contacts.

 

The sources pointed out that the repeated Iranian signals regarding developing relations with Egypt "were welcomed."

 

They recalled Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's statement last July, who said that the "development of relations between Tehran and Cairo is in the interest of both nations."

 

It was followed by a tweet by the head of Iran's Interests Section Office in Cairo, Mohammad Hossein Soltanifar, praising what he said is Egyptian rejection of an American alliance project against Iran.

 

Soltanifar continued to hint at the improvement of relations between Cairo and Tehran through an article he published in the Iran Daily newspaper and reported by the Iranian News Agency on Saturday.

 

He said the current developments "require raising the bilateral relations between the two countries... to the desired political level."

 

In December, the Iranian foreign minister welcomed a proposal by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani aimed at "launching a dialogue between Cairo and Tehran."

 

During their meeting in Jordan, Amir-Abdollahian said the Iraqi prime minister expressed the desire to launch Iranian-Egyptian talks on the security and political levels, which leads to improving ties between the two nations.

 

On March 06, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Tehran hoped relations with Cairo would be restored, adding that Iran is taking advantage of all opportunities to improve foreign relations, including with Egypt.

 

Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei received Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said during his visit to Iran.

 

During the meeting, the Sultan of Oman pointed to Egypt's willingness to resume relations with Iran, and Khamenei emphasized that Iran welcomes this position and has no problems in this regard.

 

Former Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy told Asharq Al-Awsat that recent reports about Cairo's desire to improve its ties are a "principled position," noting that both sides are interested in developing relations.

 

Fahmy added that over the past years, during his position as a minister, he had maintained contacts with Iranian authorities, adding that officials discussed the importance of developing the bilateral relations and "favored that."

 

Observers believe the Iranian signals, including Khamenei's statements, coincide with changes to ease regional tensions.

 

In March, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore diplomatic relations under a deal brokered by China.

 

Fahmy pointed out that after the death of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in Cairo, Iran pursued a harsh policy towards the Arab world in general, including Egypt, with an attempt to export the "revolution" at a particular stage.

 

He indicated that with the change in Iranian policy, it was logical for Arab countries to test the waters to see if this reflects a strategic shift towards the Middle East.

 

The diplomat believes there is a shift in the Iranian position, hoping that improving relations with regional countries will be a priority and primary concern.

 

Fahmy referred to the Saudi-Iranian agreement and the Egyptian-Iranian contacts, which he considered a prelude to discussing the restoration of relations, especially after the visit of the Omani leaders to Cairo and Tehran.

 

Member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, Nourhan al-Sheikh, believes that fundamental determinants regulate the normalization of relations between Cairo and Tehran.

 

Sheikh explained that some of these determinants have already been achieved, such as the Gulf acceptance and reassurances regarding the security of the Gulf countries.

 

She told Asharq Al-Awsat that the second determinant is Iran's position on supporting Islamic movements, asserting the importance of this issue which requires reassurances that Tehran would not interfere in Egypt's domestic affairs.