Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty spoke with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Aragchi on Saturday about the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal in advance of a high-level summit on that agreement set for Cairo on Sunday.
Abdelatty stressed that it was important for all parties to present an escalation of hostilities in the region, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Araghchi praised Egypt’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire but emphasized that the Islamic Republic maintained its right to respond to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
It is widely assumed that Israel killed Haniyeh, even though Israel has not taken responsibility for his death.Egypt and Qatar are negotiating a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal with the help of the US. The Biden administration has hoped that a Gaza ceasefire would prevent a retaliatory attack by Iran against Israel.