Iran's Foreign Minister Araghchi in Egypt to seek support against Israeli retaliation

President El Sisi emphasises need to prevent war from broadening into a region-wide conflict

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, right, meets Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the Presidential Palace in Cairo on Thursday. AP

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Cairo on Thursday as part of a Middle East tour to persuade regional US allies to put pressure on Washington to limit the scope of Israel's possible retaliatory attack.

Mr Sisi's meeting with Mr Araghchi focused on regional developments, with the Egyptian president emphasising the need to prevent the wars in Gaza and Lebanon from broadening into a region-wide conflict, according to a statement from the Egypt's presidency.

“A comprehensive region-wide war will have grave consequences for the security and future of every nation and every people in the area,” the statement quoted Mr El Sisi as saying.

Mr Araghchi, who also met Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, is the first Iranian foreign minister to visit Egypt since January 2013.

Mr Abdelatty delivered a message to the Iranian minister similar to the Egyptian leader's, according to a foreign ministry statement. “It's important that the region avoids being dragged into a calamitous confrontation that will lead to a large-scale regional war with destructive consequences for all parties,” the statement quoted the Egyptian minister as saying. “No country will be immune to the fallout from such a war.”

Mr Araghchi flew to Cairo late on Wednesday from Amman where Jordan's King Abdullah told him his US-allied country “will not be a theatre for regional conflicts” and emphasised the need for de-escalation.

Mr Araghchi's tour – he will next visit Turkey, another US ally – was aimed at persuading the three countries to not allow Israel or the US to use their airspace to launch an attack on Iran, sources told The National.

He is also cautioning the region's US allies that Washington's interests in the region would be a legitimate target if Israel attacks Iran's oil or nuclear facilities, according to the sources.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to limit his country’s response after Iran's missile attack two weeks ago, sparing its oil infrastructure, the backbone of its economy, according to US reports.

Both Egypt and Jordan have peace treaties with Israel, but their relations with Mr Netanyahu and his right-wing government have been fraught with tension since the Gaza war broke out a year ago.

Jordan played a role in shooting down some of the Iranian missiles fired at Israel on October 1. Jordanian officials have said the military would also not allow Israel to use its airspace.

Jordan is among the Arab countries Iran has threatened if they help Israel in the widely anticipated strike, The Wall Street Journal reported last week. Although Jordan and Iran have diplomatic relations, the kingdom has not had an ambassador in Tehran for years because of Amman's objections to Iranian policies in the region.

Egypt's relations with Iran have been strained for decades, primarily over Cairo's decision to provide the shah of Iran sanctuary in the wake of his ousting in the country's 1979 revolution. While the two nations have sought to normalise relations in recent years, the process was halted when its architect on the Iranian side, president Ebrahim Raisi, died in May in a helicopter crash.

Iranian-Egyptian relations have soured since the outbreak of the Gaza war, with Cairo voicing its disappointment to Tehran over its reluctance to prevent attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. In a wider context, Egypt has also been dismayed by what the sources described as Iran's use of its proxies in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq to fuel tension conflict in the region and bring closer the prospect of a wider war.

The attacks on Red Sea shipping have significantly hit Egypt's revenue from the Suez Canal, a strategic waterway that links the Red and Mediterranean seas and a major source of foreign currency to the cash-strapped Cairo government.

Mr Abdelatty, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement, discussed with his Iranian counterpart the “dangerous developments in the Middle East, including the Red Sea”. It did not elaborate.