TEHRAN – Officials from Iran and Egypt held last month a meeting in Baghdad to improve Tehran-Cairo relations à la the thaw that took place in Iran-Saudi relations, a Qatari newspaper reported.

The newspaper, Al Araby Al Jadeed, quoted Iraqi officials as saying that the meeting took place under the auspices of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad al-Sudani and aims to repeat the mediation that Iraq undertook between Tehran and Riyadh. 

The sources explained that the two sides were keen not to announce it officially, while Egyptian diplomatic sources had told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that contacts took place during the last week of March between security officials from Egypt and Iran, which dealt with the possibility of gradual development of bilateral relations between the two countries in the coming period. 

According to the two Iraqi officials, the meeting took place at a low level of representation from both sides in the middle of last month, with the arrangement and presence of the Iraqi side. They also said that Baghdad is working to host another meeting between the two sides. 

One of the officials, who is at the Foreign Ministry of Iraq, said there was “a [positive] response from both sides, the Iranian and the Egyptian, to the Iraqi mediation, which aims to move the stalemate in relations, but it is too early to talk about progress in the mediation.”

The second Iraqi official who is at the Iraqi National Security Advisory said, “The goal is to restore normal relations between the two sides, especially with the developments of the Saudi-Iranian reconciliation, and the atmosphere is positive.”

Regarding the position of the representatives of the Egyptian and Iranian side, he said that they are “security and diplomatic,” stressing that the first meeting did not discuss many details, and the second meeting is expected to be more important and in-depth.

This information was confirmed by the rapporteur of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Iraqi parliament, Amer Al-Fayez. He said, “Iraq has already begun mediation to bridge points of view, and break the reluctance of Egypt and Iran to reach a good relationship.”

And he indicated that “there is progress in this mediation, since the first meeting took place between the two parties, and the role of Baghdad in restoring relations between Cairo and Tehran continues, and this confirms the importance of Iraq in the region, and the balanced role it plays in relations that makes it a mediator acceptable to all regional and international parties.”

And he considered that the al-Sudani government “enjoys support and acceptance in the region, and this contributes to the success of the current mediation between the Iranians and the Egyptians.”