Egypt - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Egypt cover image

Egypt

May 12, 2026

Cairo 9:26 pm

29°C

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly speaks in Beirut on Dec. 19, 2025.

Egypt ramps up energy investments amid war-driven price pressures

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Wednesday that Egypt has secured commitments exceeding $19 billion from international oil companies over the next three years.

Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Home to many of the world's largest wheat importers, the Middle East and North Africa face acute food security risks as the US-Israel-Iran war disrupts global fertilizer flows and pushes up prices.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hosted the third meeting of the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on the margins of the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum, on April 17, 2026.

Analysis

Why Saudi Arabia, Egypt are wary of Turkey’s proposed 4-way defense pact with Pakistan

The proposed framework faces major hurdles and fault lines, ranging from NATO constraints to Israeli opposition and weak military integration.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

A man walks through the atrium during the 2026 IMF and World Bank Group Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)

IMF slashes Mideast outlook by nearly 3 points as Iran war hits economies

The International Monetary Fund cut gross domestic product forecasts for the Middle East and North Africa, with the fallout from the conflict exposing stark divergences between the region’s energy exporters and importers.

Latest News

Analysis

Egypt eyes energy breakthroughs as Iran war deepens gas crunch

Sayed Hassan/Getty Images

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Analysis

Hostage to Hormuz, can Gulf rewire future energy flows to bypass Iran’s chokepoint?

A police speed boat patrols the port as oil tankers and high speed crafts sit anchored at Muscat Anchorage near the Strait of Hormuz on March 30, 2026 in Muscat, Oman.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Israel energy minister says gas flowing to Egypt, Jordan despite shutdown reports

A view of the platform of the Leviathan natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea is pictured from the Israeli northern coastal beach of Nasholim, on Aug. 29, 2022.

Egypt closes stores early, Jordan bans AC as Iran war takes toll

Shops close early, on March 28, 2026, in Cairo, Egypt.

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

In London, reporting on North Africa and Gulf politics

Mohammed Magdy

In Berlin, reporting on Egyptian politics

Ayah Aman

In Cairo, reporting on politics and culture

Salwa Samir

In Giza, reporting on politics

Nada Shaker

In Cairo, reporting on culture

An Egyptian cleric who is a protester, prays as protesters run from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes along a road which leads to the Interior Ministry, near Tahrir Square in Cairo November 22, 2011.Egyptians frustrated with military rule battled police in the streets again on Tuesday as the generals scrambled to cope with the cabinet's proffered resignation after bloodshed that has jolted plans for Egypt's first free election in decades. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POL

Ayah Aman on why she writes

Al-Monitor contributor Ayah Aman shares her thoughts on journalism.

Belly dancer runs for Egyptian parliament seat

Egyptian belly dancer Sama El Masry is an official candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections, stirring outrage among conservative Egyptians who find her art offensive.

Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukri speaks during a press conference with his Sudanese and Ethiopian counterparts in the early hours of March 6, 2015, on the sidelines of meetings in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, to announce they had reached an agreement on the sharing of Nile waters and Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam. The principles of the use of the eastern Nile Basin and the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will be submitted to the heads of the three states for approval. AFP PHOTO / ASHRAF SHAZLY (

Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia inch toward resolving Nile dam crisis

During the closed negotiations held in Khartoum, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed on a plan to find technical solutions to the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Egypt fears threatens its share of the Nile.

Syrian writer and journalist Samar Yazbek poses on September 26, 2014 in Paris. AFP PHOTO JOEL SAGET (Photo credit should read JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

10 Middle Eastern writers you should know

These 10 female writers are challenging conceptions of women in the Middle East.

Chairman of the Masr El Kaweya (Strong Egypt) party, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, speaks during a news conference in Cairo February 4, 2015. The party announced on Wednesday that they will boycott the upcoming long-awaited parliamentary elections. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR4O796

Aboul Fotouh: Egyptians will start revolution if dictatorship persists

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, head of the Strong Egypt Party and former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, shared with Al-Monitor his views about Egypt's current regime.

Secretary of State John Kerry (L) meets Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud at Diriyah Farm in Diriyah March 5, 2015. Kerry met Gulf Arab foreign ministers in Riyadh on Thursday to brief them on progress in the nuclear talks with Iran and offer reassurance that any deal would not damage their interests. Kerry arrived in Riyadh late on Wednesday from Montreux, Switzerland, where he said he had made progress in talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that aim to conclude an atomic deal b

Saudi Arabia prepares for Iran nuclear deal

Saudi Arabia has been pulling out the diplomatic stops in an effort to contain Iran in anticipation of what it sees as an unfavorable nuclear deal between the West and the Islamic republic.

Retired U.S. General John Allen, special envoy for building the coalition against Islamic State, speaks to the media during a news conference at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad January 14, 2015. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4LEKU

Obama administration: US 'will protect' Syrian rebel forces

John Allen, US special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, suggests a deeper US military commitment in Syria; Turkey’s "precious loneliness"; Egypt closes 27,000 places of worship to counter militancy and extremism; Al-Monitor’s series on Women in the Middle East continues.

Palestinians militants leave after representatives of various Palestinian armed factions held a news conference to condemn the decision of an Egyptian court that banned Hamas' armed wing, in Gaza City February 5, 2015. An Egyptian court last week banned Hamas' armed wing and listed it as a terrorist organization, prompting Hamas to reject Egypt as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, a role it has played for decades.
REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4OC6I

Hamas reacts to potential Egyptian attack

Hamas is discussing steps it could take if Egypt decides to attack the Gaza Strip, as hinted by the Egyptian army, following the country's decision to declare Hamas a terrorist organization.

A group of Egyptian illegal immigrants, who according to authorities will be deported back to Egypt through the border with Tunisia on Wednesday, are seen being held at the Alkarareem immigration centre in the east of Misrata February 18, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY IMMIGRATION) - RTR4Q60O

Egyptian workers endangered in Libya

Poor Egyptian workers in Libya have been threatened and killed by Islamic militias, while Egypt has announced its official support for the Libyan army against the terrorists.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal (L) meets with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara March 17, 2011. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS ROYALS) - RTR2K0M9

Are Turkey, Saudi Arabia working together against Iran?

Analysts fear that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is being dragged into Saudi Arabia's anti-Iran Sunni bloc.

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH

An injured member of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi is carried by members of the riot police and the army after they cleared Rabaa Adawiya square area, where the Pro-Mursi supporters are camping, in Cairo August 14, 2013. Egyptian security forces killed at least 30 people on Wednesday when they cleared a camp of Cairo protesters who were demanding the reinstatement of Mursi, his Muslim Brother

Enas Hamed on why she writes

Al-Monitor contributor Enas Hamed shares her thoughts on journalism.

10 Middle East artists to watch

Many female artists in the Middle East and North Africa are redefining their mediums.