American Aid to Egypt and its Impact on Egypt-Iran Relations

Egypt is a strategic country for the United States. On the one hand maintaining Egypt friendly to the West due to its geopolitical location and influence in Arab League, keeping Suez Canal open for economic and military interests, following market development opportunities and securing a settlement with Israel are among the reasons which make Egypt vital for U.S. policy makers on the other the Egyptian foreign policy pattern is based on geography, national interests, cold War setting and leaders of Egypt is mainly affected by U.S. policies. This study uses foreign aid political theory to discuss how the United States uses foreign aid to maintain its interests in Egypt despite the political instability caused by the Arab Spring. The archival research on the USAID and U.S. foreign policy towards Egypt demonstrates that after Nasser presidency and since the late 1970s, the United States has provided significant military and economic assistance to Egypt to pursue its interests in the Middle East. Although Arab Spring and Egyptian uprisings in 2011 and Egyptian military’s coup in 2013 made Obama administration to suspend temporarily some U.S. assistance to Egypt, but after re-establishment of aids, the steady rate of U.S. military assistance to Egypt hasn’t been changed. This issue shows that U.S. unceasing influence in Egyptian circles of power was saved by foreign aid and proves the permanence of U.S. strategic interests in the region. As a result, U.S. utilizes these aids as an influential tool to control Egypt and to pursue its goals in the Middle Eastern countries, including Iran. Due to the close partnership with the United State and Israel, Egypt doesn’t have a stable relationship with Islamic Republic of Iran.