Maria’s Note: Morsi’s Historical Visit to Iran – The World is Watching

On August 30, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi will visit Iran to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit. During this meeting, designed to support developing nations, Egypt will hand the leadership of the movement to Iran.  However, the encounter is now under high scrutiny from the side of political analysts and media as it could be the first step to change the political balance of the Middle East. It has also caused suspicion from the States and the “West”, due to their interests in the region.

This would be the first trip for an Egyptian leader since the diplomatic relations between both countries deteriorated after Iran’s revolution, especially after the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty at Camp David in 1979. Back thne, Egypt acknowledged the existence of the State of Israel, a fact that was not welcomed by the Iranian government. 

Since then, Egypt’s leadership (Sunni Muslim) represented by Hosni Mubarak, found an ally on Saudi Arabia (Sunni Muslim as well) and confronted the Iranian rising power (Shiite Muslim).

Currently, president Morsi aims to restore the relations between both powers “based on shared interests, and expand areas of political coordination and economic cooperation because this will create a balance of pressure in the region”, as he was quoted to say in his interview for Egypt’s state news agency MENA. 

It is still early to predict how this is going to reshape the political arena in the region, but it is for sure that all will be watching.