Will Rafsanjani’s death draw Iran, Egypt farther apart?
As Egypt paid its condolences to the death of former Iranian President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, many observers do not expect Rafsanjani's death to affect the rapprochement attempts between both countries.
Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of the System (EDCS) and former Iranian President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died Jan. 8, and his death might have put a nail in the coffin of normalization between Egypt and Iran.
The Egyptian diplomatic reaction to the death of Rafsanjani was different from the Egyptian reaction to the death of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s mother in March 2015. While the Egyptian government chose to ignore the death of Sakineh Peivandi, Rouhani’s mother, two years ago, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry sent the deputy assistant foreign minister for protocol affairs, Ambassador Ashraf Mounir, on Jan. 12 to the Interests Section of Iran in Egypt to offer condolences to both the office manager and the Iranian government, on behalf of the Egyptian government.
