Important developments have been unfolding in the Middle East. The turmoil, tears, terror and tragedy of the conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan and Occupied Palestine notwithstanding, regional powers are trying to see reason. Without sounding too optimistic, it can be said that cooperation has found its proper place on the strategic region’s political agenda.
After President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Doha this month (the first ever by an Iranian head of government), now it’s Egypt’s turn.
Friends of both Iran and Egypt contend that the time has come for the two important Muslim states to restore full diplomatic ties.
Tehran and Cairo have begun efforts to push back the past and look to the future. Ahmadinejad has publicly expressed his government’s readiness to resume political relations with that country and reopen embassies in the two capitals.
Relations were severed in 1980 following Egypt’s rather unexpected move to recognize Israel and give sanctuary to the deposed Shah of Iran. The two moves were strongly condemned by Tehran as unfriendly, and Tehran ordered its senior envoy back home in protest.
No progress was made toward normalizing the strained diplomatic ties and both sides were resolved at damage control by allowing respective interest sections to function instead of embassies.
More than a quarter century has since passed bringing in its wake major upheavals in the volatile Middle East and beyond that compel the two governments to revise their past positions and move on.
In Iran’s official opinion Egypt is a major player in the region and the Muslim world despite the bitter fact that Cairo in the past adopted some strange stances like bestowing legality to the occupying power in Tel Aviv whose formidable military has made death and destruction of Arab life and property a growth industry.
Resumption of diplomatic relations will provide Tehran and Cairo the opportunity to work together to help resolve burning issues in our neighborhood.
For now it seems the diplomatic barometer is predicting better times for meaningful political cooperation between the two Muslim nations. Iran’s parliament speaker is scheduled to visit Cairo soon. Egypt’s deputy foreign minister arrived in Tehran on Tuesday.
The Mubarak government has taken new stances recently regarding developments in Lebanon and Palestine, and belatedly singled out Israel for rare condemnation for its non-stop atrocities in the occupied lands. This is an indication of Cairo’s real concern over one of the Muslim world’s biggest challenges--liberation of the Holy Qods.
As seen from Cairo, Iran has been gaining influence in the Muslim-Arab region in general, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine in particular. It appears that this reality is more important for President Hosni Mubarak than peripheral issues like changing the name of a street in northern Tehran.
Rulers in the Arab world, including Egypt have come to realize that snubbing Iran is neither possible nor advisable. In short, the time has long passed when political, security and economic arrangements in the Mideast and Persian Gulf can be effective without Iran.
Egypt and Iran have many common interests. Instability and violence in both our neighborhoods, coupled with unwanted and unhelpful extraterritorial interference, is clear disadvantage for the two peoples.
Conventional wisdom and long-range interests demand newer thinking and a new course without the political baggage of the past. Egypt and Iran cannot afford to do otherwise.