President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt. February 18, 2022
Egypt hosted Israel's prime minister and the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates Monday, sources said, as talks to revive the Iran deal remain in limbo.
Although there was no official announcement about the presence of Israel’s Naftali Bennett, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi his guests held discussions that covered the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
Persian Gulf states were excluded from talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that they have criticized for not addressing Iran's missiles program and regional proxies, including in Yemen.
Egypt's presidency said Sisi and the UAE's Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan held expanded bilateral talks on issues including economic investment, in the Red Sea Resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Sisi stressed Egypt's commitment to security in the Persian Gulf and "rejection of any practices that seek to destabilize it," the presidency said in a statement.
The UAE along with Saudi Arabia has resisted Western calls to hike oil output and contain a jump in crude prices caused by the conflict in Ukraine.
Egypt faces new economic pressures due to the war that saw it devalue its currency by 14% on Monday. It has called on financial support from wealthy Gulf states in the past.
Bennett visited Egypt last September, the first official trip by an Israeli head of government to the country in a decade.