Mar 22, 2022: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted the Israeli prime minister and the UAE’s de facto leader on Monday, two Egyptian security sources said, as talks to restore a nuclear deal with Iran were stalled.

The Egyptian Presidency said that Al-Sisi and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had a wide-ranging bilateral meeting during the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, a resort town in the Red Sea.

President El-Sisi reiterated Egypt’s commitment to security in the Gulf region and “rejection of any practices that seek to destabilise it”, the presidency said in a statement.

Meanwhile the official Emirati news agency WAM said the visit was aimed at “advancing cooperation across all fronts for the benefit of the two countries and their peoples”.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and el-Sisi “reviewed issues of interest, and the latest developments on the regional and international scene”, and stressed “the importance of strengthening Arab solidarity in the face of common challenges”,according to WAM.

Though no official comment was made on behalf of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s, the Egyptian and Israeli officials confirmed that Bennett was in Egypt to meet with al-Sisi. Several Israeli media outlets reported that the three leaders discussed reports that Western powers, including Iran and the United States, were close to an agreement to restore the 2015 nuclear deal.

Bennett is a staunch opponent of the agreement between Iran and Israel, a longtime enemy of Israel, while Gulf states themselves are not part of the talks. The United States said last week that Washington and Tehran were close to restoring the agreement, with State Department spokesman Ned Price saying on March 16 that “the remaining issues could be resolved.”

Direct negotiations have been ongoing for months in the Austrian capital Vienna between Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. Talks with the U.S have taken place indirectly.

Bennett denounced efforts to sign a revived nuclear deal “at any cost”.

Sources say Iran said there were just two issues left to be resolved, including that Iran secure “economic guarantees” in case a future US administration changes its stance and abrogates the agreement, as then-President Donald Trump did in 2018; and that Washington remove its official “terror” group designation on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In a historical revival of ties, the UAE and Bahrain forged a relationship with Israel in 2020 to establish a new regional axis at a time of uncertainty over the commitment of the United States, a key security ally. Bennett’s visit to Abu Dhabi in December was the first official visit by an Israeli leader since relations between the two countries returned to normal.

Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement in 1979 and last week announced a direct flight agreement between Tel Aviv and Sharm el-Sheikh.

Bennett visited Egypt last September, the first official visit by an Israeli head of state in a decade.

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