Leaders of Israel, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates discuss Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a visit to Egypt and discussed the Iranian nuclear talks.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted the Israeli prime minister and the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, the country's de facto leader, on Monday, March 21. Two Egyptian security officials told Reuters that the main topic of conversation between the three high-ranking political figures was the nuclear talks with Iran.
Shared concerns about Iran led the UAE and Bahrain to establish ties with Israel in 2020, creating a new regional pivot at a time of uncertainty about the commitment of their security ally, the United States.
This new regional axis includes Egypt, the Persian Gulf countries, and Türkiye, along with Israel.
The Persian Gulf countries are unhappy with the nuclear deal with Iran signed in 2015 because it does not address Iran's missile program or the Islamic Republic's regional interventions, including in Yemen.
The Egyptian president said that he had bilateral talks with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of the UAE, and discussed economic investments in the Red Sea port of Sharm El-Sheikh.
The Egyptian presidential office said in a statement that Sisi stressed Egypt's commitment to security in the Persian Gulf and "rejecting any action that seeks to destabilize it."
Conversation about Ukraine
There has been no official comment on Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's remarks, but Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the leaders of the three countries also discussed the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have resisted Western calls to increase oil production and contain the surge in crude prices caused by the war in Ukraine.
Naftali Bennett visited the UAE in December last year. This was the first visit by an Israeli official to the UAE.
Egypt and Israel, which have had a peace treaty since 1979, also established direct flights between Tel Aviv and Sharm el-Sheikh for the first time last week.
Naftali Bennett's visit to Egypt last September was the first visit to the country by an Israeli prime minister in the past decade.
Source: DW
