Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has held a series of phone consultations on Tuesday with regional and international partners to discuss potential negotiations between the Iranians and the Americans.
This follows a recent initiative by U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to a statement issued late Monday by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, “dialogue remains the only real guarantee to prevent further escalation and to safeguard the resources of peoples.”
Abdelatty held talks with his counterparts from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Turkey, Pakistan, France and Cyprus, as well as with the U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.
On Monday, President Trump said that “positive” discussions had taken place with Iranian leaders and were expected to continue this week. Iran, however, has denied that any negotiations — direct or indirect — are underway.
“Egypt is working to strengthen coordination and consultation with Arab countries, as well as with regional and international partners, in order to contain the ongoing military escalation,” Abdelatty said, warning against “unpredictable consequences that could threaten regional and international peace and security.”
A report by U.S.-based outlet Axios indicated that Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan had acted as intermediaries between the United States and Iran over the past two days in an effort to pave the way for negotiations.
During these exchanges, the Egyptian minister reiterated his country’s full condemnation of Iranian attacks targeting Gulf states, stressing that such actions cannot be justified under any circumstances and calling for their immediate cessation, the statement added.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Monday that “no negotiations” had taken place with the United States, dismissing reports of talks mentioned by President Trump with an unidentified Iranian official.
“No negotiations have taken place with the United States. False information is being used to manipulate financial and oil markets and to extricate the United States and Israel from the quagmire in which they are stuck,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.
Israeli reports had previously claimed that the Iranian parliament speaker had held talks with President Trump aimed at de-escalation.
AK/te/lb/as/APA