Egypt Speaks With Iran After Tehran Claims Victory, Other Middle East Developments

Egypt is trying to revive Iran-U.S. negotiations. Iran’s president has said the world accepts that his country has won the war. France and Saudi Arabia are expected to discuss plans to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has greatly slowed since the United States and Israel launched the war nearly six months ago.

Meanwhile, remarks by the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria appear to contradict the official U.S. position on the Golan Heights. And Israel has carried out strikes in Syria and in Gaza.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage can be found here.

Egypt tries to revive US-Iran negotiations

The top diplomats for Egypt and Iran discussed efforts to bring Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table to settle the war, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty also discussed the Iranian-Omani talks on the management of the Strait of Hormuz, the ministry said.

Araghchi briefed Egypt’s foreign minister about “Iran’s view of ongoing developments, the course of negotiations and their challenges,” the ministry said, without elaborating.

There was no immediate statement from Araghchi.

Iran says ‘the entire world approved our victory’

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the war with the U.S. should end since the world has accepted that Iran has won, state media reported Friday. Iran sees its new control over the strait and resistance to U.S. demands as a win.

“The entire world approved our victory and the U.S. is hated,” Pezeshkian said, according to the IRNA news agency.

The Trump administration is touting a crushing financial campaign against Iran, promising an “economic D-Day” against the country.

U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration would impose an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation on Iran, aiming to force its leadership to cave to demands to end its nuclear program and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil, natural gas and other supplies.

Syria says an Israeli drone strikes inside a village

An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle wounded one person on Saturday in the southwestern Syrian village of Beit Jin, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. Syria’s foreign ministry said several civilians were injured and called the strike a flagrant violation of the country’s sovereignty.

The Israeli military said it targeted a “terrorist who advanced terror attacks in final stages of preparation,” without elaborating. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was the same strike.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria after the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in late 2024, mainly destroying army assets to keep them out of the hands of his successors.

Messages differ on the Golan Heights

In an interview on Friday with Mario Nawfal, a Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur, U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack said Israel “still” occupies the Golan Heights in violation of U.N. resolutions.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Saturday in a statement called Barrack’s remarks “full of inaccuracies and positions that contradict Trump’s own position.”

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed it in 1981. The U.N. considers the territory occupied Syrian land. But in March 2019, Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, reversing decades of U.S. policy.

This month, Colombia became the second country to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory.

French president and Saudi crown prince will meet

French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are expected to discuss plans to develop alternatives routes to the Strait of Hormuz during the Saudi leader’s two-day visit to Paris that starts on Sunday, according to officials in the presidency who weren’t authorized to be publicly named.

Proposals include increasing trade through Omani ports outside of the Persian Gulf, expanding or doubling pipelines in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and developing new rail links, the officials said.

France and Saudi Arabia have formed a task force on energy and logistics connections between the Middle East and Europe that is scheduled to meet at the ministerial level Monday.

CIURTESY: Associated Press