Trip to Cairo at the Time of the Fall
Trip to Cairo at the Time of the Fall
Middle East News Agency, citing its sources, reported that Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, will travel to Cairo this week to participate in the D8 group meeting. According to these sources, Pezeshkian will have bilateral meetings with officials present at the D8 meeting on the sidelines of the event.
According to Shargh and as reported by IRNA, the D8 group consists of significant developing Islamic countries with very good and effective capacities to influence regional and even global developments. They can play an active role as a driving force for other regional and international organizations and encourage other major Islamic countries that are members of these organizations.
The D8 group was formed in 1997 with the membership of eight developing Islamic countries including Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, and Nigeria. The D8 group encompasses 1.2 billion of the world’s population, with a GDP of 48 trillion dollars and 45 percent of the world’s gross production.
The mentioned group has the capacity to highlight and increase the impact of the diplomatic efforts of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League, and the Shanghai Cooperation in the Gaza matter.
Meanwhile, the media also reported on Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey’s trip to Egypt this Thursday, predicting that the Presidents of Iran and Turkey will meet on the sidelines of this meeting to discuss the recent developments in Syria.
It is noteworthy that the simultaneous presence of Pezeshkian and Erdoğan at the Cairo meeting has given hope to el-Sisi that it could serve as a channel or bridge for negotiations between Tehran and Ankara in regional equations following Bashar al-Assad’s fall.
Especially since it has been reported that Erdoğan will also have a meeting with Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the President of Egypt, focusing on Syria. In this context, it seems the Egyptians have also turned to Ankara to address concerns about the new Syrian government, as Egyptian officials have stated that Cairo had invited Erdoğan before Bashar al-Assad’s fall, but after the collapse of the Syrian government, they have requested direct negotiations between el-Sisi and Erdoğan regarding Syria.
Iraq as Masoud Pezeshkian’s First Destination
The fourteenth government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, headed by Masoud Pezeshkian, began its work on August 30, 2024, with the slogan of national unity, focusing its efforts over the past hundred days on strengthening relations with neighboring and regional countries.
According to Eco Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, chose Iraq as his first destination in September 2024. This trip was made at the official invitation of the Iraqi Prime Minister and included meetings with Iraqi officials, including the Prime Minister and the President of the country.
The purpose of this trip was to strengthen bilateral relations and economic and political cooperation between the two countries.
The most important part of this trip was the visit to the port city of Basra, which was warmly received by the governor of this province. During this trip, he met with cultural, religious, academic elites, and a group of Basra’s tribes and emphasized Iran’s serious commitment to pursuing the Shalamcheh-Basra railway project.
From a Trip to New York for the United Nations Presence to a Trip to Doha for Strengthening Regional Relations and Resolving Disputes Among Countries
Pezeshkian’s second trip was to New York, where he went to give a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Many considered his speech at the General Assembly as Iran’s olive branch to the world.
In his third official trip, Masoud Pezeshkian traveled to Doha, Qatar, at the invitation of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to participate in the Asian Cooperation Dialogue Summit.
During this trip, the President announced the signing of six cooperation documents between Iran and Qatar and also mentioned positive talks among Arab foreign ministers and Araghchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister. These negotiations helped strengthen relations and resolve disputes among countries, with hopes for the continuation of this trend in the future.
Trip to Turkmenistan and Important Agreements in the Energy Sector
Turkmenistan was Pezeshkian’s fourth destination in his regional travels, aimed at participating in the International Conference on the Interconnection of Times and Civilizations as the Basis for Peace and Development. In this trip, important negotiations and agreements in the fields of gas, roads, and electricity were made, which could help reduce problems caused by sanctions and enhance the level of relations between the two countries.
Pezeshkian also reached agreements to strengthen border markets and increase gas exports to Iran in a meeting with the leader of Turkmenistan.
One of the highlights of Pezeshkian’s trip was his meeting with Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, where they discussed energy and infrastructure treaties and contracts.
This meeting helped strengthen cooperation in energy and petrochemical fields, and both sides emphasized the necessity of effective actions regarding humanitarian crises in Gaza and Lebanon.
Pezeshkian also held talks with the Presidents of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which led to the formation of joint working groups for further cooperation.
Russia and Participation in the BRICS Member Countries Meeting
The fifth destination of Pezeshkian’s foreign trips was Russia, where the President left Tehran for Kazan on October 23. During this trip, the President participated in the main summit of BRICS member countries with the theme of strengthening multilateralism for fair global development and security, the extensive meeting of BRICS member countries, and the first BRICS Plus session titled Building a Better World Together, and delivered a speech.
During this trip, Pezeshkian met and held talks with the Presidents of Russia, China, Egypt, South Africa, Belarus, Venezuela, and Bolivia, the head of the UAE, and the Prime Ministers of India and Ethiopia.
Iran Newspaper: Cairo Has No Choice but to Pay Attention to Iran During Pezeshkian’s Era
Now that the sixth destination of Pezeshkian’s foreign trips has been determined, the newspaper close to the government writes in its analysis of the imminent trip of the Iranian President to Egypt: Now Cairo, during Pezeshkian’s era, has faced the Iranian reality, seeing no choice but to heed its call for cooperation in the region. An Iran that, with the special emphasis of its peace-loving President, has opened the doors of its relations with regional countries one after another and is trying to impose the depth of its foreign policy strategy on relations that previously had no opportunity to manifest.
Iran Newspaper further states that Pezeshkian’s presence in Cairo can be seen as a reflection of this tumultuous history and the correctness of his nascent government’s initiative while trying to fulfill his promise to extend a hand of friendship and brotherhood to all regional countries, especially neighbors. A promise that not only serves as a thermometer for Iran-Arab relations but also as a measure for assessing the competence and capability of the fourteenth government in its early stage, and can subsequently prevail over the wave of despair in one of the most challenging periods governing the tumultuous Middle East, and in this diplomatic history experience, one by one, make the opening and strengthening of relations between Iran and regional countries from Saudi Arabia and Egypt to Jordan and Bahrain possible.
Contrary to what the government newspaper Iran has portrayed regarding the impact of Pezeshkian’s trip to Egypt on enhancing Tehran-Cairo bilateral relations, Seyed Jalal Sadatian, in his conversation with Shargh, considers the importance of this trip not as the President’s presence at the D8 meeting but as the revival of Iran’s lost role in the region after Bashar al-Assad’s fall.
Especially as the senior international affairs analyst points to the recent Aqaba meeting in Jordan without Iran’s presence and role in shaping Syria’s equations and believes that with the creation of a new structure in Syria, a new order has emerged with the presence of regional and extra-regional players aimed at reducing Iran’s prominence in West Asia. Therefore, the former Iranian ambassador to the UK, in assessing the importance of Pezeshkian’s trip to Egypt, gives more weight to the recovery and revival of Iran’s role in the Middle East rather than Tehran-Cairo bilateral relations or expectations from the positive effects of the D8 group in Iran’s economic and trade domain.
Because the former parliamentary representative believes that a country like Egypt, in terms of foreign policy, looks at the outcome and final output of regional countries from the Persian Gulf margin to Turkey for setting relations and laying tracks with the Islamic Republic of Iran. For this reason, this university professor emphasizes in the target setting of Pezeshkian’s trip that the main and central goal of the President’s presence in Cairo should be to delineate Iran’s weight in such a way that any planning and agreement for the future of Syria and the Middle East region is not possible without Tehran’s role.
On the other hand, Sadatian acknowledges that given the sanctions situation and Iran’s presence on the FATF blacklist, strengthening relations or participating in regional and extra-regional economic meetings from D8 and ECO to the Shanghai Pact, ASEAN, and even BRICS cannot have tangible outcomes.
Therefore, a member of the Fourth National Security and Foreign Policy Commission realistically clarifies that Pezeshkian’s trip to Egypt should prioritize strengthening Iran’s diplomatic weight to somehow compensate for Iran’s absence in the Aqaba meeting in Jordan.
Shaping Syria’s Future Without Iran’s Presence
Sadatian’s reference to the Aqaba meeting pertains to the meeting of the foreign ministers of the US, France, Turkey, and seven Arab countries about Syria in Jordan, without the presence of Russia and Iran, which concluded on Saturday night, December 15.
