Sisi stresses to Iran’s Pezeshkian need to diffuse regional tensions, avoid uncalculated escalation

CAIRO – 23 October 2024: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi emphasized the importance of diffusing regional tensions and avoiding uncalculated escalation as he met on Wednesday with his Iranian counterpart, President Masoud Pezeshkian, during the BRICS summit held in the Russian city of Kazan.

Sisi warned that such escalation can lead the entire region into dangerous confrontations with negative implications on regional security and stability.

During the meeting, Sisi highlighted the intensive Egyptian efforts and communications to advance de-escalation path and achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

Sisi also emphasized the necessity of mobilizing international efforts to urge all parties to positively engage with endeavors aiming to restore calm in the region, allowing for addressing the humanitarian catastrophe experienced by civilians in Palestine and Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Sisi and Pezeshkian agreed on the importance of joint efforts to explore prospects for developing Egyptian-Iranian relations.

REGIONAL TENSIONS

The meeting of the Egyptian and Iranian leaders today come amid persisting Israeli wars in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as mounting tensions in the region.

Since the start of the Gaza war on 7 October, 2023, Israeli forces have killed 42,792 Palestinians, injured more than 100,000 others, devastated vital infrastructure and pushed the enclave toward the brink of famine.

In Lebanon, the Israeli war has killed 2,412 people and injured more than 11,200, according to data by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health as Israeli forces are combating Hezbollah in the Arab country.

LOOMING THREATS

The world is anticipating looming Israeli attacks against Iran following the Iranian launch of around 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel on 1 October.

The Iranian attack constituted Tehran’s most substantial direct assault on its long-standing adversary and the second such attack since the Gaza war started on October 7 last year.

Tehran's offensive was a retaliatory measure after Israel's assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July as well as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan, a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in Lebanon in September.