Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Cairo, Egypt, from December 18 to 20. This is the first visit of an Iranian president to Egypt since 2013. Pezeshkian visited at the invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for an economic summit. The summit, called the D-8, included what Sisi considers the eight major developing economies of the Islamic world: Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria and Malaysia.

Pezeshkian called for a reset in Iran’s relationship with the rest of the Islamic world. He hopes this will strengthen the Muslim world against the meddling of outside powers. “All Muslim countries should play their own role and make efforts to strengthen interaction in the Islamic world and overcome disputes,” he said, “because it is due to these disputes that foreigners make interferences.”

Egyptian-Iranian relations have been extremely tense for decades. The two nations do not currently host embassies for each other. But Pezeshkian’s visit suggests this could soon change.

Mehdi Sanaei, Pezeshkian’s political adviser, accompanied the president to Cairo. On December 18, aboard Pezeshkian’s plane, Sanaei told media: “It is for [over] four decades that Iran and Egypt don’t have political ties,” but “there is necessary will by the two countries to resume ties and we hope that with the steps that have been taken will reach the stage of reopening the embassies.” Mohammad Hossein Soltanifar, Iran’s highest diplomatic representative in Cairo, said Pezeshkian’s visit “would mark a final step toward upgrading bilateral relations to the embassy level.”

After Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat offered him asylum. In 1981, Sadat was assassinated—likely by Iran’s new Islamist regime.

Sadat’s successor, Hosni Mubarak, lost power in the 2011 Arab Spring. That revolution brought the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood to power under Mohamed Morsi. Morsi subsequently lost power through a 2013 coup launched by Sisi, who was then serving as defense minister. Sisi has ruled ever since.

Iran is the global face of political Islam and exports Islamic revolution worldwide. Sisi’s secular military regime is the kind of government Islamists want to overthrow. The last Iranian president to visit Egypt was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose 2013 visit was to bolster Morsi’s new government—the government Sisi overthrew.

Pezeshkian’s visit is the equivalent of the president of Cuba visiting Washington, D.C.

This is only the latest example of Iran and Egypt reconciling. Last year, Egypt adjusted its visa rules to allow Iranians visas on arrival rather than applying through a diplomatic office. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Egypt in October.

Rationale

Sisi’s government still stands for everything Iran has declared revolution against. So why is Sisi extending this olive branch? There are two main possible reasons.

First, Egypt is broke. International crises for years have battered the Egyptian economy. This, combined with the government’s many lavish vanity projects, has gotten Egypt further into debt and has massively devalued its currency.

Noted absentees from the D-8 summit include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other wealthy Gulf states. These countries have been among Sisi’s biggest bankrollers to this point. However, they are getting frustrated with sending him money for little return. The D-8 summit could have been Sisi’s attempt to shop around for alternate investors.

It could also be a way to ease domestic pressure at home. Iran is the world’s biggest sponsor of Islamic revolution. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the Muslim Brotherhood’s main sponsor. Sisi may hope friendly overtures will encourage Iran and Turkey to ease some of their sponsorship of Egyptian groups. Iran also sponsors Yemen’s Houthi rebels, whose attacks on Red Sea shipping have seriously hurt Egypt’s economy.

A Prophesied Shift

Egypt right now has a relatively warm relationship with Israel. But the Bible prophesies this will change. Daniel 11:40 discusses an end-time clash between “the king of the north”—a united Europe—and “the king of the south,” a radical Islamist bloc led by Iran. Verse 41 shows both powers want the “glorious land”—the land of Israel. Our relevant Trends article explains the Daniel 11 prophecy in detail.

Iran will lead the coming Islamist bloc, but it won’t be the only nation involved. Verse 42-43 say the king of the north “shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.”

“Egypt will be conquered or controlled by the king of the north,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes in his free booklet The King of the South. “This clearly implies that Egypt will be allied with the king of the south. This prophecy indicates we are about to see a far-reaching change in Egyptian politics! We have been saying since 1994 that this would occur. Look at Egypt today, and you see the nation’s foreign policy and political orientation changing in a way that threatens to transform the entire region!”

Pressure on Israel’s northern border just dropped with the undoing of Hezbollah and Assadist Syria. But Egypt turning into a threat on its southern border would be a game changer. Iran knows this. This is probably factoring into Pezeshkian’s outreaches.

Libya and Ethiopia are also mentioned as allies of Iran in Daniel 11. “All of these nations are to the south and west of Israel,” we wrote for our November-December Trumpet issue. “That is not where Iran is focusing its attention right now. … Until now, Iran’s main point of attack against Israel has been to the north—through Lebanon, as well as through Syria.” Once Daniel 11 is fulfilled, however, “Iran will hardly have a presence in the north and will have shifted its focus to Israel’s south. Something is going to cause Iran to change strategy.”

We are seeing this shift start to take place right now.

This doesn’t mean Sisi’s government itself will turn against Israel. He has many reasons to keep Israel close as a friend. But with or without Sisi, Egypt will turn to Iran. And Iran is already making overtures for that.

To learn more, read our Trends article “Why the Trumpet Watches Iran Allying With Egypt.”