TEHRAN, Iran — Once close and friendly, relations between Iran and Egypt went sour after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. At a time when no country was willing to host the deposed Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat rolled out the red carpet. Ultimately, after months of traveling through Mexico, the Bahamas, the United States and Morocco, the shah finally returned to Egypt, where he died. This occurred against the backdrop of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s stated opposition against Israel, and particularly against Egypt and Israel’s signing of the September 1978 Camp David Accords.

Needless to say, the Islamic Republic and Egypt got off on the wrong foot from the get-go. Considering that the two countries have not historically maintained considerable economic ties — even under the shah — it is not surprising that bilateral relations turned dark in the face of new tension. The Iran-Egypt relationship further deteriorated after the revolutionary government named a street in Tehran after Khalid Islambouli, the man who assassinated Sadat. Meanwhile, both sides started to produce propaganda films about each other. This status quo was maintained throughout the presidency of Hosni Mubarak.

With the emergence of the Arab Spring, Iran hoped that Egyptian Islamists would seize power and a new chapter in bilateral relations would be opened. This objective was never achieved. In 2012, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi set many conditions for traveling to Tehran in August of that year, where he gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the annual summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. A high-ranking Iranian diplomat told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Mr. Morsi had said that he would only come to Tehran for a few hours, that he would not spend the night here, and that he will not meet with the supreme leader.” In his speech, Morsi — a member of the Muslim Brotherhood — angered his Iranian hosts with criticism of the Syrian government. He also sided with the United Arab Emirates against Iran over three disputed islands in the Persian Gulf. Thus, though Tehran was eager to open a new chapter in its relations with Cairo, no such thing materialized under Morsi.

With Morsi’s fall and the rise of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, observers predicted that Egyptian foreign policy would revert to that under Mubarak. However, there is one major new issue to consider these days, and that is the different circumstances in Syria. Upon seizing power, Sisi knew well that in order to survive he would need financial assistance; thus, he started to look for support from the Arab Persian Gulf states. Yet, Sisi opposes the new radical movements that have emerged amid the Arab Spring, and unlike Saudi Arabia he does not make any exceptions. Thus, Sisi appears to have effectively transformed into one of the supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Considering that almost all Arab countries seek Assad’s removal, Sisi’s position could serve as a major plus for Tehran. However, not much has changed in relations between Iran and Egypt. Why? Ghasem Mohebali, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's former Middle East director general, told Al-Monitor, “When it comes to Iran, Egypt is careful about its own relations with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Egypt needs the financial help that it gets from those Arab states, and it does not want to risk offending Saudi Arabia either. In addition, it will receive no major political or economic benefits from improving its relations with Tehran.”