Why Iran Rejected Invitation to Attend Sharm el-Sheikh Summit?
By holding such meetings, the United States is trying to give itself and its allies political credibility in the region, Jafar Qannadbashi told IQNA in an interview.
The 2025 Gaza peace summit is a meeting scheduled to be held on today in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt following the agreement to implement the first phase of the Gaza peace plan to end the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on Gaza that began in 2023.
The Islamic Republic of Iran was invited to attend the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, but in Sunday’s cabinet meeting, after Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi presented a report on Egypt’s official invitation for Iran’s president to participate in the summit, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s response to this invitation was announced as negative.
In this regard, Qannadbashi analyzed Iran’s refusal to participate in the Sharm el-Sheikh summit.
The main issue is that the Americans and their allies in the region are seeking to give credibility to this peace agreement and, in fact, they want to gain political credibility and status against main rivals such as Russia and China, he said.
Emphasizing that the Sharm el-Sheikh summit is not a normal business meeting, he added, “This summit is more of a propaganda event and its goal is to showcase America’s allies against international competitors. Although Russia may also participate, the most important goal for America is to give credibility to the governments of the region and prevent the collapse of the Zionist regime.”
Qanadbashi said Iran’s effort is to not participate in validating American power in the region.
“Of course, there are other reasons for this refusal, which the Foreign Minister mentioned in his tweet last evening.
“While Iran welcomes any initiative that ends Israel’s genocide in Gaza and leads to the expulsion of the occupying forces, we will not engage in Sharm el-Sheikh with the murderers of the (Iranian) generals, commanders, scientists, and other martyrs of the 12-day war and those who threaten and boycott the Iranian nation, and for this reason we did not attend this meeting.”
He noted that the summit has become a joke for the US media because the two main parties, Hamas and the Zionist regime, are not present in this meeting, and when the two main parties are not present to sign this agreement, then it is more like a joke meeting.
“Therefore, this meeting is more to validate the power of the US in the West Asian region and prevent the collapse of Israel and show power against Russia and China.”
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Asked about some analyses regarding the merits of Iran’s presence at this summit, which could both open a door to resuming diplomacy with the US government and clear Iran of the accusation of opposing peace in the Middle East, he said, “This meeting does not have a real diplomatic nature. People who say these things don’t understand the meaning of diplomacy. This is a show, and in less than an hour, photos and videos will be taken, and there will be no opportunity for dialogue at all.”
Iran’s presence at this meeting would definitely not be right, “especially since the Americans and Zionists attacked us in the middle of the negotiations and hit residential areas and military and nuclear equipment.”
Iran’s participation would be a sign of weakness, he said. “It would mean that we were afraid of our enemies and were even willing to make concessions. Because they would definitely interpret the presence of the Iranian delegation at such a summit as a sign of readiness to make concessions.”
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