Egypt sets up crisis committee to monitor repercussions of Iran-Israel war
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly issued a decision on Monday to form a Crisis Committee, headed by him, to monitor the repercussions of the Iranian-Israeli military operations and prepare for any further developments.
The official spokesperson for the Cabinet, Mohamed al-Homsany, said that the committee includes the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, the Ministers of Industry, Planning, Electricity, Finance, Supply, and Petroleum, as well as representatives from the Ministries of Defense and Interior, the General Intelligence Service, and the Administrative Control Authority.
He added that the Prime Minister will meet periodically with the committee's members and is currently intensifying his meetings with various advisory committees to discuss the repercussions of recent events and their impact on various sectors.
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, Mahmoud Aboul-Eyoun, expressed his concerns about the impact on foreign exchange earnings due to the impact on Egyptian exports of fertilizers and pesticides, which may decline as a result of reduced natural gas supplies.
Aboul-Eyoun said that the continuation of war could also impact tourism, as well as the movement of international capital, which would harm investment returns.
A government source revealed that the Ministry of Petroleum has agreed to receive four additional shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) over the next two weeks, as part of an urgent plan to compensate for the shortage resulting from the halt in Israeli gas supplies amid the ongoing escalation with Iran.
The additional shipments will amount to approximately 355,000 tons of LNG, providing 12 billion cubic feet over the course of an entire month, equivalent to 400 million cubic feet of gas per day.
The repercussions of the mutual attack between Tehran and Tel Aviv were reflected in global oil prices, with prices jumping seven percent amid renewed military strikes between the two sides.
This raised fears of a wider conflict in the region and the potential disruption of oil exports from the Middle East.
A government source confirmed that Egypt, despite its potential impact from this conflict, may benefit temporarily from increased European demand for liquefied natural gas if Israeli gas exports decline as a result of the targeting of facilities such as Ashkelon or Tamar.
Oil and energy expert Gamal al-Qalyoubi said that regional developments prompted the government to strengthen its daily monitoring mechanisms for global energy markets, noting that any sharp price increases will directly impact the cost of importing liquefied natural gas.
Furthermore, fuel shipping costs have seen significant increases globally.
The former Deputy Chairman of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, Medhat Youssef, confirmed that the instability in the region has prompted insurance companies to raise the 'war premium' for ships transiting in areas of tension, especially tankers transporting petroleum products.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al-Ahram Weekly
an hour ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Russian drone and missile barrage on Kyiv kills seven - War in Ukraine
Ukraine said on Monday that Russia had fired dozens of drones and missiles at the country, killing seven in Kyiv. A flurry of diplomatic efforts to end the three-year war have stalled, with the last direct meeting between Kyiv and Moscow almost three weeks ago and no follow-up talks scheduled. AFP journalists heard the buzzing of drones flying over the centre of the capital and explosions ringing out during the overnight barrage. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said six people were killed in Kyiv and another person was left dead in Bila Tserkva just outside the capital. Zelensky said Russia had launched 352 unmanned aerial vehicles -- including Iranian-designed drones -- and 16 missiles at Ukraine, adding that some of the munitions were provided to Moscow by North Korea. "Everyone in countries neighbouring Russia, Iran and North Korea should be thinking carefully about whether they could protect lives if this coalition of murderers persists and continues spreading their terror," he added. He also announced a visit on Monday to the United Kingdom -- one of Kyiv's staunchest allies -- where he said he would be discussing defence issues and sanctions on Russia with Ukraine's partners. The visit comes ahead of a NATO summit later this week in The Hague. Zelensky is set to attend on the sidelines but his involvement is being kept to a minimum to avoid a confrontation with US President Donald Trump. Sheltering in basements Since coming back to office, Trump has upended the West's approach towards Russia's war on Ukraine by undercutting Kyiv and opening the door to closer ties with Moscow. AFP journalists saw people sheltering in the basement of a residential building in the centre of Kyiv, waiting for the attack to end and scrolling their phones for news. The attack gutted a multi-storey residential building, where rescue workers were clearing debris, AFP reporters at the scene said. "Rescuers are currently clearing the rubble and providing assistance wherever it is needed," Zelensky said. He added that five "ordinary homes" had been damaged in the attack. The latest strikes -- less than a week after another attack on Kyiv killed at least 28 people -- came after Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky vowed to intensify strikes on Russia. "We will not just sit in defence because this brings nothing and eventually leads to the fact that we still retreat, lose people and territories," he told reporters, including AFP. Syrsky said Ukraine would continue its strikes on Russian military targets, which he said had proved "effective". In Moscow, the defence ministry said its air defence systems had downed 23 Ukrainian drones over eastern regions of Russia. Ukraine has launched retaliatory strikes on Russia throughout the war, targeting energy and military infrastructure sometimes hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the front line. Kyiv says the strikes are a fair response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians. Syrsky conceded that Russia had some advantages in drone warfare, particularly in making fibre-optic drones that are tethered and difficult to jam. Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 -- in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014. Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging a peace deal in order to prolong its full-scale offensive on the country and to seize more territory. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
an hour ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Egypt remittance inflows surge by 39% in April to $3 bln: CBE
Remittances from Egyptians working abroad surged by 39 percent year-on-year in April, reaching about $3 billion, compared to $2.2 billion in the same month of 2024, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced Monday. According to CBE data, remittances from Egyptians working abroad rose by 72.3 percent in the first four months of 2025, reaching about $12.4 billion, compared to approximately $7.2 billion during the same period in 2024. Moreover, remittances jumped by 77.1 percent in the first 10 months of the current FY2024/2025 (July 2024 to April 2025), reaching about $29.4 billion, compared to approximately $16.6 billion during the same period in FY2023/2024. Remittances from Egyptians abroad are one of Egypt's most important sources of foreign currency, alongside tourism, the Suez Canal, and export revenues. According to CBE data, Egypt's net international reserves (NIRs) jumped to a record $48.143 billion in April. It is worth noting that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is still negotiating with the Egyptian authorities regarding completing the fifth review. In May, an IMF team arrived in Cairo for the final discussion of the fifth review of the country's $8 billion EFF loan programme. Completing this review paves the way for Egypt to receive a tranche of $1.2 billion. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Egypt Independent
an hour ago
- Egypt Independent
Iran's nuclear facilities have been smashed, but the race toward a bomb may be gathering pace
CNN — US President Donald Trump quickly heralded the US strikes on Iran as a 'spectacular military success,' saying the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities were 'totally obliterated.' Western military sources tell CNN it's still too early to fully assess the damage wrought by more than a dozen US bunker buster bombs, plus an array of Tomahawk cruise missiles, slamming into Iran's main nuclear facilities. But even if Trump's characterization turns out to be accurate, the destruction of Iran's nuclear facilities may not mean the end of the Iranian nuclear threat. Far from it. For years, hard-line voices inside the Islamic Republic have been calling for a nuclear weapon as a deterrent against exactly this kind of overwhelming attack. Even as Iran continues to insist its nuclear program is for strictly peaceful purposes, those calls will now inevitably have been bolstered and the nuclear hard-liners may finally get their way. Ominously, Iranian officials are already publicly hinting at pulling out of a key treaty – the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT – designed to monitor and prevent the global spread of nuclear weapons. 'The NPT is not able to protect us, so why a country like Iran, or other countries interested to have a peaceful nuclear energy, should rely on NPT,' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a conference in Istanbul. Other Iranian lawmakers have called for the Islamic Republic to formally withdraw from the treaty, in what would likely be interpreted as a virtual confirmation of Iranian intent to build a nuclear weapon. Of course, intent is different than capacity. And nuclear capacity is likely to be a big issue in the immediate aftermath of the US strikes. As the latest satellite images appear to confirm, being struck with more than a dozen bunker buster bombs will have seriously impeded, if not destroyed, Iran's nuclear program. But if there is political will, nuclear enrichment facilities can eventually be repaired or rebuilt, while Iran's technical know-how survives, despite the targeting by Israel of multiple Iranian nuclear scientists. Meanwhile, officials at the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, say they are uncertain of the whereabouts of the nuclear material Iran has already manufactured, including the large amounts of uranium-235 enriched to 60%, which is very close to weapons-grade levels. Iranian state media says the three nuclear sites struck by the United States – Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan – were 'evacuated' beforehand, raising the possibility that some or all of that material is being stored elsewhere, possibly in a secret facility, unknown to nuclear inspectors. This satellite image shows the Fordow enrichment facility in Iran on Sunday after the US strikes. Editors' note: The satellite photo above was rotated by Maxar Technologies, the source of the image, to show the original orientation of the moment the image was taken. Maxar Technologies None of this dangerous nuclear uncertainty is what Trump seems to have bargained for. 'Iran, the bully of the Middle East,' he announced after the US strikes, 'must now make peace.' But with the entire region now braced for more Iranian retaliatory strikes – on Israel, US military bases or key shipping lanes, such as the Strait of Hormuz – peacemaking seems vanishingly distant. 'Our talks with Iran were a real window of opportunity,' one European diplomat insisted to CNN, referring to the brief meetings held between European and Iranian officials in Geneva on Friday. 'But the Americans have now slammed that window shut,' the diplomat added.
