Egypt, Qatar coordinate daily to reduce regional tensions, Cairo says

Egypt and Qatar are coordinating daily to reduce regional tensions and bolster diplomatic efforts, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Thursday.

Abdelatty made the remarks at a joint news conference with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, in Egypt’s coastal city of Al-Alamein.

“There is daily coordination between Egypt and Qatar to reduce escalation and enhance diplomacy in the region,” Abdelatty told reporters.

He stressed the need for countries to comply with international laws governing maritime navigation, saying Cairo “condemns and denounces” Iranian attacks on Qatar and other Gulf states, which he described as “blatant violations” of national sovereignty.

“The security of Qatar and the sisterly Gulf states is an integral part of Egyptian national security and Arab national security,” he said.

Cairo’s top diplomat said Egypt and Qatar agreed that Red Sea security was the shared responsibility of those states that border the waterway.

Sheikh Mohammed, for his part, said navigation through the Hormuz Strait must be ensured by restoring conditions that prevailed before the current regional war involving Iran, Israel, and the United States.

He also said the strategic waterway should not be exploited by any country to “blackmail” other parties.

“The consequences of this war have been grave, both for the Gulf and elsewhere in the world,” he said.

“We need the situation to go back to what it used to be,” Sheikh Mohammed added, condemning what he called “threats and obstacles” affecting navigation through the Hormuz Strait.