Travel to Cairo at the time of the fall
Travel to Cairo at the time of the fall
The Middle East News Agency, quoting its sources, reported that Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, will travel to Cairo this week to attend the D8 group meeting. According to these sources, Pezeshkian will have bilateral meetings with officials present at the D8 summit on the sidelines of this meeting.
According to Sharq and written by IRNA, the D8 group, consisting of important developing Islamic countries, has 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 generally encompasses 1.2 billion of the world’s population, with a GDP of 48 trillion dollars and 45% of the world’s gross production.
This 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 context.
Meanwhile, media outlets have also reported on Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey, traveling to Egypt on Thursday this week. Considering the recent developments in Syria, it is anticipated that the Presidents of Iran and Turkey will meet on the sidelines of this summit and consult on the developments in Syria.
It is worth mentioning that the simultaneous presence of Pezeshkian and Erdoğan at the Cairo summit has given Al-Sisi hope that there will be a negotiation channel or bridge between Tehran and Ankara in the regional equations after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
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 regard, it seems that the Egyptians have also turned to Ankara to address concerns about the new Syrian government, as Egyptian officials have said that Cairo invited Erdoğan before the fall of Bashar al-Assad, but after the collapse of the Syrian government, they demanded direct negotiations between El-Sisi and Erdoğan about Syria.
Iraq was Masoud Pezeshkian’s first destination
The fourteenth government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, led by Masoud Pezeshkian, began its work on August 30, 2024, with the slogan of national unity, and in the past hundred days, it has focused 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 Prime Minister of Iraq and included meetings with Iraqi officials, including the Prime Minister and the President of the country.
The purpose of this trip was stated to be the strengthening of 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 welcomed by the governor of this province. During this trip, he met with cultural, religious, academic elites, and a group of Basra tribes and emphasized Iran’s serious commitment to pursuing the Shalamcheh-Basra railway project.
From the trip to New York to attend the United Nations to the trip to Doha to strengthen regional relations and resolve disputes between countries
Pezeshkian’s second trip was to New York. He went to New York to deliver 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 referred to positive dialogues between the foreign ministers of Arab countries and Araqchi, Iran’s foreign minister. These negotiations helped strengthen relations and resolve disputes between countries, and there is hope for the continuation of this trend in the future.
The Turkmenistan trip and important agreements in the energy sector
Turkmenistan was Pezeshkian’s fourth destination in his regional trips, aimed at participating in the international conference on the interconnection of times and civilizations as a basis for peace and development. During this trip, important negotiations and agreements were made in the fields of gas, roads, and electricity, which can 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 agreements and contracts.
This meeting helped strengthen cooperation in the fields of energy and petrochemicals, and both sides emphasized the necessity of effective actions regarding the humanitarian crises in Gaza and Lebanon.
Pezeshkian also had discussions 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 states summit
Pezeshkian’s fifth foreign trip destination was Russia, where on October 23, the President left Tehran for Kazan. During this trip, the President attended the main summit of the BRICS member states with the theme of strengthening multilateralism for fair global development and security, the extensive meeting of the BRICS member states, 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 state of the UAE, and the Prime Ministers of India and Ethiopia.
The newspaper Iran: Cairo under Pezeshkian’s era has no choice but to pay attention to Iran
Now that the sixth foreign trip destination of Pezeshkian has been determined, a newspaper close to the government also writes in its analysis of the upcoming trip of the Iranian President to Egypt: Now, under Pezeshkian’s era, Cairo has faced an Iranian reality that sees no option but to heed its invitation to cooperation in the region. An Iran that, with the special emphasis of its peace-loving President, has opened its relationship doors with regional countries one after another and is trying to impose the depth of its foreign policy strategy on relations that previously had no chance of happening.
The newspaper Iran continues its analysis by stating that Pezeshkian’s presence in Cairo can be seen as a reflection of this tumultuous history and the correctness of his young government’s initiative, as he tries 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 measure of the temperature of Iran-Arab relations but also as a test to gauge the competence and capability of the fourteenth government in its initial period and can continue to overcome the wave of despair in one of the most challenging periods governing the tumultuous Middle East. In this diplomatic history experience, one by one, the opening and strengthening of relations between Iran and regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and Egypt to Jordan and Bahrain, can become possible.
Contrary to what the state-run Iran newspaper portrays about the impact of Pezeshkian’s trip to Egypt on enhancing Tehran-Cairo bilateral relations, Seyed Jalal Sadatian, in his conversation with Sharq, considers the importance of this trip not the President’s presence at the D8 summit but the revival of Iran’s lost role in the region after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Especially since the senior international affairs analyst refers to the recent Aqaba meeting in Jordan without Iran’s presence and role in shaping the Syrian equations and believes that with the creation of a new structure in Syria, a new order with the presence of regional and extra-regional players has emerged, 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, places more weight on the recovery and revival of Iran’s role in the Middle East rather than Tehran-Cairo bilateral relations or the expected positive effects of the D8 group in Iran’s economic and trade domain.
Because, according to a former parliament representative, a country like Egypt in foreign policy for shaping relations and setting the course with the Islamic Republic of Iran looks at the outcomes and final results of regional countries from the Persian Gulf to Turkey. For this reason, this university professor emphasizes in Pezeshkian’s trip’s targeting that the central and core goal of the President’s presence in Cairo should be to depict Iran’s weight in such a way that any planning and agreement for the future of Syria and the Middle East region without Tehran’s role is not possible.
On the other hand, Sadatian acknowledges that given the sanctions situation and also Iran’s presence on the FATF blacklist, strengthening relations or participating in regional and extra-regional economic summits 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, with a realistic view, clarifies that the priority of Pezeshkian’s trip to Egypt should be to strengthen Iran’s diplomatic weight to somehow compensate for Iran’s absence and gap in the Aqaba Jordan meeting.
Shaping the future of Syria without Iran’s presence
Sadatian’s reference to the Aqaba meeting pertains to the meeting of the foreign ministers of the United States, France, Turkey, and seven Arab countries about Syria in Jordan without the presence of Russia and Iran, which concluded on Saturday night, December 15.