Saudi Arabia and Egypt press for Red Sea security as Crown Prince visits Cairo

Egypt and Saudi Arabia called for greater co-ordination to protect the Red Sea and other shipping lanes on Tuesday, as President Abdel Fattah El Sisi voiced support for measures taken by the kingdom to defend itself from Houthi attacks.

In Cairo, Mr El Sisi met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who arrived on Tuesday for a working visit days after Houthi missile and drone attacks struck Saudi cities and a separate drone attack led Riyadh to temporarily shut an essential oil pipeline to the Red Sea.

The two leaders said the security of Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf region was part of Egypt’s national security, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency that strongly condemned threats to the kingdom.

Egypt has for months called for freedom of navigation through both Hormuz and the Bab Al Mandeb strait, a position that carries new weight in a Red Sea where Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s economies are both exposed to disrupted shipping.

Prince Mohammed arrived from Jeddah, where he met US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper on Monday after Houthi missile and drone attacks struck four southern Saudi cities: Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jizan and Najran. At least 73 people were injured, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said.

Separate attacks, originating from Iraq, prompted a precautionary shutdown of Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline. The pipeline links the Abqaiq oil complex near the Gulf with the Red Sea port of Yanbu, allowing exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry called the attacks a “serious escalation” and said Saudi security “is inseparable from Egypt’s own national security”. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty repeated the message in person to his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan at Brics summit in New Delhi on Sunday.

On Gaza, the two leaders said Egypt and Saudi Arabia shared positions on the Palestinian issue and called for a just and comprehensive settlement based on a two-state solution.

They also stressed the need to carry out the commitments of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan and a corresponding UN resolution, allow sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza and halt Israeli violations in the strip, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the presidency said.

Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt have recently issued calls for the implementation of the second phase.

Mr Abdelatty last week called on Israel to uphold its end of the deal now that Hamas had agreed to disarm, which was nothing short of “unprecedented”, he said.

Saudi Arabia, in a joint statement with France following Prince Mohammed’s visit to Paris in August, welcomed the plan to disarm Hamas and called for its implementation, alongside a sustainable ceasefire and the unimpeded delivery of aid.

The kingdom last week joined Egypt and six other Arab and Muslim countries to call for the full and immediate implementation of President Trump’s plan, saying it should address humanitarian needs and facilitate the Strip’s recovery and reconstruction.

Saudi political weight and, eventually, Saudi money are seen as decisive in translating those principles into a viable postwar situation in Gaza.

Economic ties featured prominently during the meeting. The two leaders agreed to intensify work on practical measures to expand bilateral co-operation and remove obstacles to greater trade and investment, the Egyptian presidency said.

Egypt-Saudi trade in material goods rose to about $7.1 billion in the first half of this year, about 20 per cent higher than a year earlier, while the Egyptian government has put accumulated Saudi investments at about $25 billion.

The bilateral relationship also extends to an Egyptian-Saudi Supreme Co-ordination Council, jointly chaired by the two leaders and established during an October 2024 visit by Prince Mohammed.

During a call between Mr El Sisi and Prince Mohammed on September 3, the Egyptian president invoked the “unity of destiny” between the two countries, according to a readout from the Egypt’s presidency.