Since the establishment of Egypt’s first republic in 1952, the country’s foreign policy has never been clearly sectarian, with neither a Sunni nor Shiite identity taking precedence. Following the election of President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in June 2012, however, the administration has appeared to preach sectarian ideology.
Prior to the uprising, former President Hosni Mubarak angered the Shiites in 2006, remarking that “Shias [in Iraq] and across the Middle East are more loyal to Iran than to their own countries.” His comments were later dismissed by the Egyptian foreign ministry, reaffirming Egypt’s nonsectarian policy.
