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Egypt faces a region erupting in crisis, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has said, as Cairo works to mediate between the US and Iran, contain the war in Gaza and protect its share of the Nile waters, The National reported.
“We are living in a very, very volatile region,” Abdelatty told On The Record with Hadley Gamble. “It is unpredictable.”
A framework agreement, signed by the US and Iran in June aimed at providing impetus for talks to end the war between them, collapsed last month.
“There is a problem, and there is, you know, no peace, no war for the time being,” Abdelatty said, describing the situation as a “deadlock.”
The agreement was meant to lead to sanctions relief and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but neither has emerged.
Abdelatty said Iran had assured him that it was “ready and committed” to the framework agreement, but acknowledged doubts about who controls policy in the country.
He said that, in his view, negotiations were out of the hands of diplomats and were being handled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “But we have to continue contacting our counterparts to push for peaceful solutions.”
The goal, he said, is to develop the framework into a final peace agreement that will resolve all contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions imposed by the US, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and a permanent ceasefire.
Abdelatty said the Egyptian economy was facing “a perfect storm” due to the combined effects of the Gaza war, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks by Houthi rebels on Red Sea shipping.
The consequences for traffic through the Suez Canal, he added, have cost his country about $11 billion.
But despite Egypt’s unprecedented debt, Abdelatty insists the economy has proved resilient, buoyed by growth he estimated at 5.5 per cent and a “huge” reserve of foreign currency.
As efforts to secure a long-term peace in Gaza continue to stall, Abdelatty said the biggest obstacle was Israel.
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye had managed to gather all Palestinian factions, including Hamas, in Cairo and secure an agreement on the next steps towards implementing a US-brokered peace plan in the enclave.
“Hamas and the other Palestinian factions agreed to hand over all heavy and light weapons, and to move forward with the Palestinian National Committee taking over Gaza for a temporary period,” he said.
However, he added, the first phase of the peace plan has yet to be implemented in full – terms including the entry to Gaza of 600 aid lorries a day and the start of efforts to rebuild hospitals have not been fulfilled.
With winter approaching, Abdelatty warned that “people cannot sustain these very harsh conditions”.
“The Israelis are not allowing caravans to enter. They are not even allowing tents to enter,” he added.
Abdelatty outlined a push within the Arab League for a collective security arrangement based on Palestinian statehood, respect for sovereignty and rejection of non-state actors.
“Whenever you have non-state actors competing with national authorities, then you will have a problem,” he added, raising the examples of Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.