As the US-Israel war on Iran deepens into one of the most volatile confrontations in the Middle East in decades, diplomatic efforts to contain its fallout have intensified across regional capitals.
In Cairo, the urgency is palpable. In an unusually direct appeal, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi urged US President Donald Trump to step in and stop the war.
“No one can stop the war in our region and in the Gulf except you,” he said, framing the appeal as both a humanitarian and strategic imperative. “Please, Mr President, please. Please help us stop the war. You are capable of doing so,” he added.
Egypt has been working to prevent the situation from reaching what Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tamim Khallaf describes as a “point of no return” and a scenario “we must avert at all costs.”
“Our efforts are fully concentrated on advocating for de-escalation, exercising self-restraint, and trying to diffuse existing tensions with the ultimate intention of bringing this war to a quick end,” he said.
Yet he stressed that the stakes go beyond simply ending the fighting to preventing a regional collapse, with a clear acknowledgement of the complexity confronting diplomacy.
“It’s a highly complex landscape, with a multitude of elements that need to be factored in,” Khallaf said, framing the war not as a single crisis but as a series of interconnected risks.
Everyone in the region understands that this is a moment of historic consequence in the Middle East, he said. “We feel compelled, out of the sense of regional responsibility, to rise to the occasion to engage positively and constructively to promote de-escalation and carve out a pathway for dialogue and diplomacy.”
Cairo is already involved in efforts to contain the conflict. Egypt is engaged in active efforts aimed at de-escalation, Khallaf explained, pointing to diplomatic outreach at the highest levels. The country’s Foreign Minister, Badr Abdelatty, he noted, has maintained regular calls with officials from the US and Iran over the course of the war.
Egypt’s engagement is ongoing in coordination with regional partners, in particular with Turkey and Pakistan, he said.
While the Gulf countries have chronic trust issues with Tehran, Egypt has cultivated open channels with different Iranian actors, as well as Iraq and Lebanon, which remain largely free of sectarian tensions, while it has also maintained strong ties with the Arab Gulf countries and effective communication channels with Washington and Tel Aviv.
The priority, Khallaf said, “is to encourage restraint, advocate for dialogue, and allow diplomacy to take its course through the appropriate channels. We must continue to uphold our faith in diplomacy.”
This dual-track approach defines Cairo’s diplomatic posture. “We are simultaneously not neglecting the greater strategic outlook. Important deliberations are already underway with our partners regarding post-war security arrangements in the region,” he said.
These deliberations have taken shape in a new quadrilateral format comprising Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, a significant Sunni bloc with both demographic and strategic weight in the region. The group convened twice in less than 10 days, first in Riyadh and then in Islamabad.
“These countries are four geopolitical powerhouses, and it’s crucial that we work collectively to enhance our strategic alignment, given the unprecedented multi-faceted challenges our region faces,” Khallaf explained.
The grouping, he suggested, is not just dealing with the crisis at hand. While much of the discussions have focused on “how best to address the ongoing military escalation in the region and how to respond to the fallout from the war,” it has also ventured into forward-looking territory, including what Khallaf described as “topics of a greater strategic nature related to the post-war regional arrangements.”
“Our combined strengths complement each other and are a diplomatic force-multiplier. We are leveraging these advantages to strengthen stability and security in the region,” added the diplomat, who has previously served in Egypt’s Embassy in Washington.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Gulf countries shared the same assessment or approach. Yet, the emerging concern is clear: the war may fundamentally reshape regional dynamics, either under Israel’s aggressive domination or under a victorious Iran emboldened with broader ambitions.
That sense of historic consequence is not abstract. The war has already widened, and Egypt has growing concerns about its momentum.
Israeli attacks and ground incursions in Lebanon have intensified, with growing concerns over plans to expand its control south of the Litani River. At the same time, the Houthi entry into the conflict has introduced a new maritime dimension, aggravating the already strained situation in the Strait of Hormuz, but now also threatening navigation in the Red Sea with direct repercussions on Egypt’s economic lifeline of the Suez Canal.
The spokesperson said that “as long as the conflict continues, the region will inevitably face greater risks and heightened vulnerabilities.”
In just four weeks, the war has disrupted energy markets, strained supply chains, devalued the Egyptian pound, and cast uncertainty over key sources of foreign currency, including Suez Canal revenues, while raising fears about potential impacts on Gulf remittances.
Al-Sisi noted these impacts in his plea to Trump saying that the “wealthy countries might be able to absorb this, but for middle-income and fragile economies, it could have a very, very severe impact on their stability.”
“Market watchers had warned the price of a barrel of oil could reach more than $200, and this is not an exaggeration,” he added.
Khallaf acknowledged these risks, noting that the economic dimension reinforces the urgency of diplomatic efforts. “It adds additional layers of pressure on all of us to devote sustained efforts to bring this war to an end expeditiously.”
Yet Khallaf also sought to project confidence in Egypt’s resilience. “Despite the impacts being felt, our economy has proven resilient over the years and is able to absorb disruptions and shocks,” he said, pointing to past crises from Covid-19 to the war in Ukraine and earlier waves of terrorism as tests that Egypt has endured.
Structural and fiscal reforms undertaken over the past decade, he argued, have been “central in building a resilient economy”, allowing the country to navigate “unforeseen developments”.
If the war with Iran threatens the economy and redraws the region’s geopolitical map, it also risks diverting attention from other crises. For Egypt, none is more pressing than that in Palestine.
As the world focuses on Iran, Cairo is increasingly concerned that the Occupied Palestinian Territories could slip out of international focus.
“The war in Iran must not compromise our focus on what’s happening in Gaza or the West Bank,” Khallaf stressed. Maintaining that focus, he suggested, is not only a moral imperative but a strategic necessity.
“We must collectively remain fully committed to implementing the second phase of President Trump’s peace plan,” he said.
The risk, in his view, lies in the fragmentation of international attention. “As global attention shifts to Iran, the focus on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza must be upheld and not overshadowed by other conflicts elsewhere,” he noted.
Khallaf warned that media dynamics could create a “hierarchy of crises” that distorts priorities on the ground while “the reality on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank continues to demand immediate attention and action.”
On Monday, the Israeli Knesset passed a law allowing the execution of Palestinian detainees, and Israeli forces carried out more incursions into southern Lebanon.
Khallaf offered a more explicit critique of Israel’s calculus. “Israel continues to assume that military occupation and the use of force will deliver its people security. It won’t,” he said.
Drawing parallels between the current military attacks in Gaza and Lebanon and past policies, he argued that such approaches are “echoing past strategic mistakes and reproducing policies that have proven to lack foresight.”
“Occupation is not a solution. It never was, and it never will be,” he continued, warning that it would “only exacerbate tensions and fuel prolonged instability”.
The repetition of such strategies, he suggested, risks locking Israel into “enduring conflicts”, a cycle that Egypt believes undermines the prospects for long-term regional stability.
“It will only exacerbate tensions and fuel prolonged instability. It’s déjà vu,” Khallaf concluded.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 2 April, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
Short link: