JAKARTA - Egypt and Iran are expected to exchange ambassadors within months, part of the process of normalizing relations between the two regional powers mediated by Oman, Egyptian officials said.
In addition, two officials said a meeting had been in principle agreed between President Abdel Fattah El Sisi of Egypt and his counterpart from Iran, President Ebrahim Raisi.
They said the meeting was likely to take place at the end of the year, as quoted by The National News May 25.
The news comes days after the ruler of Oman, Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, made a two-day visit to Egypt, where he discussed Cairo's relations with Tehran with President El Sisi, according to officials.
The normalization of relations with Iran, according to officials, ensures Tehran's good intentions in relation to Cairo's efforts to establish closer economic and commercial ties to countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, where Iran has significant influence.
Egypt will also seek to persuade Iran to cancel or at least reduce its support for Islamic Hamas and Jihad, two major Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip, which borders Egypt, according to the officials.
The frequent hostilities between the two militant groups and Israel pose a security threat to Egypt, hampering reconciliation efforts between the two countries and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, a goal that could be the beginning of the resumption of long-stop Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
Meanwhile, mid-level diplomats as well as intelligence officials from Iran and Egypt, have held closed consultations to normalize relations since March. The final round of the talks was held earlier this month in Baghdad, whose government has close ties to Tehran.
It is known that the melting of relations between Cairo and Tehran will add a new layer to the ongoing regional rearrangement, which is considered to change the political landscape in the region.
Saudi Arabia, for example, has agreed to restore diplomatic relations with Iran which was decided in 2016, thereby eliminating the main source of tension in the Middle East. Egypt and Turkey, which have been at odds for a decade, have also been working to normalize relations. Syria, where Iran and the Tehran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group had significant influence, was re-received to become members of the Arab League this month.
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