{"id":324105,"date":"2026-03-06T01:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T01:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/324105\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T01:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T01:26:16","slug":"sissi-says-egypt-in-state-of-near-emergency-as-iran-war-threatens-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/324105\/","title":{"rendered":"Sissi says Egypt in \u2018state of near-emergency\u2019 as Iran war threatens economy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CAIRO \u2014 Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Thursday his country was in an economic \u201cstate of near-emergency\u201d as a result of the Middle East war, warning of runaway inflation.<\/p>\n<p>The Arab world\u2019s most populous nation, and Israel\u2019s southern neighbor, has not been physically impacted by the US and Israeli war with Iran, which has seen strikes on Egypt\u2019s wealthy Gulf allies and paralyzed trade through the vital Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>But by the close of business Thursday, the Egyptian pound had fallen to an eight-month low against the US dollar, trading at 50.2 to the dollar amid reports of short-term investment outflows.<\/p>\n<p>Egypt\u2019s import-dependent economy has proven highly sensitive to fluctuations in the currency, which has lost two-thirds of its value since 2022.<\/p>\n<p>At a military academy event, Sissi said \u201cthe current crisis might have some repercussions on prices,\u201d warning that price-gouging traders could be tried \u201cin military courts,\u201d according to a statement from his spokesman.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel&#8217;s Daily Edition<br \/>\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">terms<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Over the weekend, Sissi had warned the war could spell trouble for Egypt\u2019s Suez Canal, the region\u2019s other vital waterway besides the Strait of Hormuz, and a key source of foreign currency for Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP25106430326862.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3770363\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP25106430326862-640x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"375\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n\t\tShips cross the Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt, on April 16, 2025. (AP Photo\/Amr Nabil)<\/p>\n<p>Major shipping companies have already directed traffic away from the region, rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope off the tip of southern Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Sissi said Thursday that Egypt was attempting \u201csincere and honest mediation efforts to stop the war, as its continuation will have a hefty toll.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cairo has in the past hosted nuclear talks between Iran and the United Nations\u2019 International Atomic Energy Agency, and is a guarantor of the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terror group in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday his country was \u201cnot asking for a ceasefire\u201d or negotiations with the US.<\/p>\n<p>Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our wartime journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DH-new-headshot-circular.png\" class=\"attachment-square_large size-square_large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"crm-article-popup__counter-wrap\" style=\"display:none\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read  X Times of Israel articles in the past month.&#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n<p>Your support is essential to continue our work. 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Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO \u2014 Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Thursday his country was in an economic \u201cstate of near-emergency\u201d as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-324105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}