Iran-Egypt Flights Back After Three Decades

Added by James Morley on October 5, 2010

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry publicly announced that the head of Egypt’s civil aviation authority and the deputy chief of the Iran’s national aviation company have signed an agreement to provide at most 28 flights per week between the capitals of the two countries.

Although the ministry’s spokesman Hosam Zaki has not given any starting date for the flights, resuming flights between Cairo and Tehran is good news for the two capitals and for the political ties between the countries.

Political ties between Iran and Egypt have been more than tense after 1980, after Egypt recognized Israel after the Islamic revolution.

The decision of resuming flights as based on economic interests and in order to improve political ties, spokesman Zaki said that Iran needs to comply with certain condition that Egypt has stated in the past.

Iran agreed to resume flights between Cairo and Tehran mainly because of the pressure it faces from international economical sanctions, as both Egypt and Iran are involved in the Middle East peace process.

Egypt maintains its opposing position on the Iran’s position before the incident back in 1981, when Khaled Islamboli killed President Anwar Sadat after the peace deal with Israel.