by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The Islamic Eight (D8) summit, an international organization that brings together Turkey, Iran, Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, was held in Cairo recently. The current meeting took place amid unprecedented tensions in the Middle East and growing escalation between Iran and Israel.Over the past year and a half, Tehran has firmly established its reputation as a “regional bully” and one of the architects of the Middle East crisis. It is not surprising that the Iranian authorities have tried to use the D8 platform to strengthen their regional positions and eliminate past tactical miscalculations.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's speeches on the sidelines of the D8 were expectedly focused on the topic of maintaining stability in the Middle East. Pezeshkian repeatedly emphasized that Tehran is not a "regional bully" and advocates maintaining good-neighborly relations with the Middle Eastern powers.
True, Israel was expectedly deleted from the list of “candidates for good neighborliness” – the Iranian president blamed it not only for the destabilization of individual countries in the Middle East, but also for the worsening economic situation in the Islamic world.
Pezeschkian's speech was generally well received, with the D8 leaders thanking Iran for "taking responsibility for its actions" and reaffirming their commitment to stabilizing the situation in the region.
However, Pezeshkian was unable to completely take over the anti-Israeli agenda.
The Turks were the first to call for the "immediate international isolation" of Tel Aviv from the D8 rostrum. However, they were very disingenuous: despite criticism of Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon, Ankara still remains one of Israel's key trading partners, including providing for the needs of the IDF.
AS THE OWNER
The Cairo summit was significant in many ways because it was the first time in a decade that an Iranian president had traveled to Egypt in person, a clear sign of improved dialogue between Tehran and Cairo. Pezeshkian also met with Egyptian leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, discussing the current contours of the conflict in the Middle East.
On the other hand, despite the face-to-face meeting, the conversation took place in the most neutral tones possible - the leaders of the two countries did not touch on the issues of combating terrorism, and spoke about key regional conflicts with restraint and almost without judgment.
The issue of shipping safety in the Mediterranean and Red Seas was also ignored – this is a sore subject for Cairo, since the country suffered more than others from attacks by the pro-Iranian Houthis; Egypt’s total losses from the naval blockade in the Red Sea amounted to tens of billions of dollars.
Cairo and Tehran continue to keep an eye on each other, including because in the current conflict in the Middle East they are de facto on opposite sides of the barricades.
Egypt, although it seeks to play the role of mediator on Gaza, remains a strategic partner of the United States and Israel, and one of the opponents of Iranian interference in Arab affairs.
For the same reason, the interlocutors avoided the topic of establishing contacts with the “new Syria” — largely because both had previously “bet” on Bashar al-Assad’s regime in the conflict. However, Cairo still has an additional trump card up its sleeve — support for the “new Syria” at the level of the League of Arab States, but the Egyptian authorities do not plan to share it with the Iranians.
The D8 summit only confirmed that suspicions between the two powers remain and that a major breakthrough in dialogue between them should not be expected in the near future.
At the Islamic Eight platform, Iran attempted to simultaneously resolve the ambiguities in the Syrian direction.
During a meeting with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, the issue of post-war reconstruction of Syria became one of the main ones. Despite the fact that the meeting was rather short, the Turkish leader hinted to his Iranian counterpart about the existence of some “loopholes” in the dialogue with the “new Damascus”, noting that the restoration of Syria is a “collective matter”.
In addition, Ankara and Tehran criticized the illegal Israeli presence on Syrian territory, as well as the “extended occupation” of the Golan Heights.
KEYS TO SYRIA
Erdogan's public position on Syria does not oblige his protégés in Damascus to anything.
Representatives of the "Syrian Salvation Government" (SSG) continue to criticize "destructive Iranian influence" and demand the "cleansing" of Iranian creatures from all state institutions.
Considering that nothing changed in the rhetoric of the PSS either during the summit or after its completion, Tehran, apparently, failed to reach the new Syrian authorities through Turkey.
Another important result of the Cairo D8 summit was the expansion of the participants: Azerbaijan joined the G8 (not without the support of the Iranian authorities). For Tehran, Baku's participation in the D8 opens up significant prospects for further deepening of contacts. Moreover, both sides are interested in developing joint infrastructure projects, in particular the Southern Cargo Terminal.
There are, however, more specific tasks.
It is important for Tehran to prevent Azerbaijan from being drawn into the "anti-Iranian club" at all costs. Especially since the activity of Israeli special services in the Transcaucasus has increased significantly over the past two years, and official Tel Aviv is increasingly positioning Baku as its strategic partner, which causes some concern among the Iranians.
Also, due to its political proximity to Turkey, Azerbaijan is considered by Ankara as one of the economic donors of the “new Syria”, and Tehran hopes to reach out to the new Syrian government, including through them.
Overall, the Cairo summit brought certain dividends to Tehran.
The Iranian authorities have demonstrated their willingness to continue cooperation with all D8 countries regardless of disagreements “on the ground,” and have also partly absolved themselves of responsibility for further escalation.
On the other hand, the Iranians have still not been able to solve the main regional task at the moment – to establish a dialogue with the “new Syria” through other players (both regional and external).