The invitation is on someone’s desk in the Foreign Ministry, formal and precise. Come to Sharm el-Sheikh. Witness the ceasefire. Be part of history. Iran’s answer was no.
While Hamas signed a ceasefire with Israel in Egypt and Arab leaders met American diplomats - with Donald Trump orchestrating what he called a new Middle Eastern order - Iran’s president and foreign minister remained absent.
The Islamic Republic, which built its identity on rejecting Israel’s existence and bankrolled a network of militant proxies to that end, now finds its ally making peace with its sworn enemy.
Iran’s response: stay home, make statements, and hope no one notices its weakness.
It did not work.
The decision by President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to decline Egypt’s invitation to the historic Gaza peace summit has triggered a political storm in Tehran.
From reformists to pragmatists, critics have united around a single phrase: “opportunity-wasting.”
“We cannot engage with those who have attacked the Iranian people,” Araghchi said, explaining the government’s absence from the Egyptian port city gathering where the future of the Middle East was being reshaped without Iran’s say.
The explanation collapsed under its own contradictions within hours. Less than a month earlier, these same Iranian officials actively pursued meetings with U.S. counterparts at the United Nations in New York.
And Iran’s own history betrays the claim: Tehran engaged directly with Saddam Hussein at the foreign minister level after eight years of brutal warfare that killed hundreds of thousands of people.
The real calculation was simpler and more desperate.
Attending Sharm el-Sheikh meant confronting Trump and accepting a regional order that excluded Iranian influence. Not attending meant confirming what everyone already suspected: Iran has lost the game.
While a handful of hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders praised Pezeshkian’s decision, the broader political establishment delivered a harsher verdict.
Even Nezamoddin Mousavi, an IRGC-aligned MP, represented a lonely voice of support in a chorus of condemnation.
Iran’s presence at the summit would have carried political costs at home. Its absence became a global advertisement for the regime’s isolation. Either way, Tehran loses.
There is no doubt that the Islamic Republic’s presence at this meeting - as a government that does not accept the two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis - would not have been welcomed by the leaders present.
Trump’s presence and the need for the Iranian delegation to find an excuse to avoid confronting him created another dilemma, ultimately leading the Islamic Republic to prefer accepting isolation from this summit.
While the Islamic Republic government faced severe domestic criticism for refusing to attend the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, Trump began sending messages to the Iranian government hours before the summit started, speaking from Tel Aviv.
Appearing at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, he once again defended his decision to withdraw from the JCPOA nuclear agreement and his order to bomb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites in June.
He then asked the Islamic Republic to officially recognize Israel’s existence and, for the second time, asked Iran to join the Abraham Accords - meaning to establish political relations with Israel.
“This is not only the end of war – this is the end of an age of terror and death,” the US president said. “Israel, with our help, has won all that it can by force of arms. Now it’s time to translate those victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
“We are ready when you are, and it will be the best decision that Iran has ever made, and it’s going to happen,” Trump said, referring to a deal with Iran.
“The hand of friendship and cooperation is open. I’m telling you, they [Iran] want to make a deal… it would be great if we could make a deal,” Trump told the Israeli Knesset.
On Saturday, Iran’s foreign minister welcomed a potential “fair and balanced” U.S. proposal on its nuclear programme, but said Tehran has not received any starting points for negotiation.
“If we receive a reasonable, balanced, and fair proposal from the Americans for negotiations, we will certainly consider it,” Abbas Araghchi told state television on Saturday, adding that Tehran and Washington had been exchanging messages through mediators.
Trump’s repeated invitation to Iran to join the Abraham Accords and establish relations with Israel is, for as long as the Islamic Republic exists, an invitation to the impossible.
The Islamic Republic has expressed interest in establishing political relations with Egypt for nearly two years and, according to Araghchi, has “removed all internal obstacles,” yet still has not been able to establish full political relations with this important Islamic country.
The severance of relations between Iran and Israel, which existed before February 1979, was ordered by Ruhollah Khomeini after the Shah’s fall and remains a cornerstone of the Islamic Republic’s identity.
Reversing that decision is considered politically unthinkable in Tehran. Yet Donald Trump’s renewed insistence on such a move - coupled with talk of a better future for Iranians should peace be achieved - suggests the opening moves of a fresh campaign against the Islamic Republic.
In the aftermath of Trump’s speech addressed to the Islamic Republic, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council - now under the reinstated leadership of Ali Larijani - issued instructions to domestic media on how to report the comments.
The Council urged outlets to highlight “America’s breaches of faith and its record of destructive actions and damage to Iran’s economy,” saying the goal was to “prevent false hope from taking root in society.”
Meanwhile, the Middle East's landscape is shifting.
Hamas - the terror group long backed by Tehran and designated a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union - has endorsed the Trump-brokered ceasefire and is actively working to see it implemented.
What was once the Islamic Republic’s “axis of resistance” has largely fallen apart as the region undergoes historic change.
Tehran is now cornered politically and ideologically - any move, such as recognising Israel, could threaten the regime’s survival.
Interested in writing for IranWire?
Share your stories.
comments