FM: Iran reestablishing ties with Bahrain and Egypt
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the process of reestablishing relations with Bahrain and Egypt has begun.
Araghchi said on Monday that several requests have been made to establish relations with Manama since Tehran and Riyadh normalized their relations back in 2023.
The top diplomat said efforts are underway to re-establish ties with the Persian Gulf Arab nation, expressing hope that those efforts will soon bear fruit.
Regarding Tehran-Cairo relations, the Iranian foreign minister noted that ties between Iran and Egypt have expanded significantly.
He mentioned that the presidents and foreign ministers of both countries have met several times and maintain regular telephone conversations.
Bahrain followed Saudi Arabia’s suit and severed diplomatic relations with Iran on January 4, 2016, after Iranian protesters, enraged by the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi government, stormed its diplomatic mission in Iran.
Tehran and Riyadh reached an agreement in the Chinese capital city of Beijing in March 2023 to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies and missions.
Back on October 21, Foreign Minister Araghchi and King Hamad of Bahrain met in Manama and discussed relations and the latest developments in the region, most notably the escalation of Israel’s atrocities in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980, as shifts widened between the two following the Islamic Revolution in Iran and Egypt’s recognition of Israel. The move came after Egypt welcomed the deposed US-backed Pahlavi ruler.
However, since Egypt’s longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising in 2011, there has been a warming of relations between Iran and Egypt.
In recent years, particularly amid the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, diplomatic contacts between the two countries have intensified as Egypt has tried to play a mediating role.
