Iran's FM launches historic regional tour, strengthening ties with Arab states - analysis

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi flew to Egypt on Wednesday evening after a trip to the Kingdom of Jordan. It is part of a regional tour that has seen him travel to the Gulf and also other Arab states. This appears to be an unprecedented number of trips in a short period of time for any Iranian envoy historically.

Araghchi is hitting the ground running to fill the shoes of the previous Iranian foreign minister, who died in a helicopter crash. He has visited Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and Oman in the last few weeks.

Araghchi's trip is important because he is not only visiting countries that are close to Iran historically or where Iran has interests, such as Lebanon or Iraq; rather, he is doing outreach to countries that have peace with Israel and which are close to the West, such as Jordan and Egypt.

This is part of Iran's attempt to isolate Israel. Iran backed Hamas in its October 7 attack and has mobilized proxies to attack Israel from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and other countries. As Iran's foreign minister makes his tour, it is in contrast to his Israeli counterparts, who have not made any regional tours like this or have not been able to do much outreach since October 7.

Iranian state media IRNA noted that Araghchi "arrived in Egypt as part of his ongoing regional tour aimed at stepping up diplomatic efforts to halt Israeli aggression against Gaza and Lebanon." He flew to Egypt from Amman, where he met King Abdullah II and Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi. Safadi is often extremely critical of Israel.

This shows how Iran is gaining influence in Jordan and Egypt. Egypt and Iran have been on a road to reconciliation, for instance. In addition, Iran and Saudi Arabia have reconciled with China's backing. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince was also in Cairo this week, illustrating how a triangle of ties between Cairo and Tehran is emerging.

Strengthen regional ties

IRNA noted that "Araghchi is the first top Iranian official to visit Egypt in the past decade. The last time an Iranian official visited the Arab country was in 2014 when martyred Hossein Amirabdollahian, who was at the time deputy foreign minister, took part in the inaugural of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

Sisi was first elected as president in that year." Iran's foreign minister is clear that his trip is designed to pressure Israel.  Iran's foreign ministry says that Iran and Egypt are "both historic and civilizational heavyweights and key regional actors. Looking forward to having important talks with Egyptian high-level officials tomorrow."

Iran sees itself as being on the "right side of history," according to IRNA. "Iran's Foreign Minister is undertaking diplomatic engagements with regional countries as part of a genuine, peace-driven effort to lay the groundwork for a ceasefire and to alleviate the suffering of the region's people," the Iranian embassy in Cairo said in its post. "In contrast, some European foreign ministers have limited their actions to issuing statements, while others have justified the killing of civilians or imposed sanctions on the Iranian people without offering any substantive diplomatic initiatives to advance peace. Iran takes pride in its position on the right side of history."

In other diplomatic news in Iran, the Iranian Foreign Ministry slammed Germany's chancellor for comments critiquing Iran. "Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has harshly reacted to a joint statement issued by the European Union (EU) and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) after their Wednesday's meeting in Brussels that carried several anti-Iran etheric, including false claims on the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf," IRNA also noted. Iran says the era of "divide and rule" is over for the Europeans in the region. This ties into the Iranian foreign minister's attempt to rally all the countries in the region to its side.

Iran's Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade is also in Pakistan this week. In addition, the special envoy of Iran's foreign minister for West Asia, Raouf Sheibani, met with Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Rashid Bou Habib this week to discuss Israel's continuing war on Hezbollah.