Historically, relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

could be considered as extending several centuries back to the relations between earlier regimes in Egypt – the highly autonomous

Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a Eyalet, province (''eyalet'') of their empir ...

in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and the

Kingdom of Egypt The Kingdom of Egypt () was the legal form of the Egyptian state during the latter period of the Muhammad Ali dynasty's reign, from the United Kingdom's recognition of Egyptian independence in 1922 until the abolition of the monarchy of Eg ...

– and the earlier manifestations of Saudi/Wahhabi power in the Arabian Peninsula (

Emirate of Diriyah The first Saudi state (), officially the Emirate of Diriyah (), was established in 1744, when the emir of a Najdi town called Diriyah, Muhammad I, and the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab signed a pact to found a socio-religious ...

). Saudi Arabia and Egypt are both highly influential countries in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

. Egypt is the most populous Arab country, and Saudi Arabia is a member of the

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

. According to a 2013 Pew global opinion poll, 78% of

Egyptians Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...

express a favourable view of Saudi Arabia, and 19% express an unfavourable view.

19th century

Muhammad Ali

Between 1811 and 1818 Ibrahim Pasha, son of

Muhammad Ali of Egypt Muhammad Ali (4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849) was the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Albanians, Albanian viceroy and governor who became the ''de facto'' ruler of History of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty, Egypt from 1805 to 1848, widely consi ...

, governor of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, led a campaign against the

– as the First Saudi State was known – on behalf of the

Egyptian Armed Forces The Egyptian Armed Forces () are the military forces of the Egypt, Arab Republic of Egypt. The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces directs (a) Egyptian Army forces, (b) the Egyptian Navy, (c) Egyptian Air Force and (d) Egyptian Air Defense Forces. ...

led by Ibrahim conquered

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

and

Nejd Najd is a historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes most of the central region of Saudi Arabia. It is roughly bounded by the Hejaz region to the west, the Nafud desert in al-Jawf to the north, ad-Dahna Desert in al-Ahsa to th ...

and brought that first Saudi state to an end.

20th century

In 1924

King Abdulaziz Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted as 1876, although a few sources give it as 1880. According to British author Robert Lacey's book ''The Kingdom'', ...

attempted to improve the relations with the

sending a cable to King Fuad on the inauguration of the first Egyptian Parliament. However, the relations between two states became strained after 1926 due to several reasons, including the

caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

issue and remained the same until 1936. On 7 May 1936 a treaty was signed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia in Cairo which included Egypt's recognition of Saudi Arabia as an independent and sovereign state. The treaty normalized the relations and initiated the diplomatic relations between two countries.

Gamal Abdel Nasser era

In the years immediately after the

Egyptian Revolution of 1952 The Egyptian revolution of 1952, also known as the 1952 coup d'état () and the 23 July Revolution (), was a period of profound political, economic, and societal change in Egypt. On 23 July 1952, the revolution began with the toppling of King ...

relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia were cordial, driven by mutual suspicion of the

Hashemites The Hashemites (), also House of Hashim, are the royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Hejaz (1916–1925), Syria (1920), and Iraq (1921–1958). The family had ruled the city of Me ...

reigning in Jordan and (especially) Iraq at the time, and continuing from an anti-Hashemite alliance formed by King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, King

Farouk of Egypt Farouk I (; ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936 and reigning until his ...

and President

Shukri al-Quwatli Shukri al-Quwatli (; 6 May 189130 June 1967) was a Syrian politician and statesman who was the first president of post-independence Syria, in 1943. He began his career as a dissident working towards the independence and unity of the Ottoman Em ...

of Syria after the foundation of the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

in 1945. Subsequently, Nasser and

King Saud Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; 15 January 1902 – 23 February 1969) was King of Saudi Arabia from 9 November 1953 until his abdication on 2 November 1964. During his reign, he served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1954 a ...

co-operated to limit the reach of the

Baghdad Pact The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), formerly known as the Middle East Treaty Organization (METO) and also known as the Baghdad Pact, was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed on 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, ...

, which they felt was designed to increase the influence of Hashemite Iraq. As a result, the two countries signed a bilateral military pact in 1955 and worked to successfully prevent

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

from joining the Baghdad Pact. Egypt came to have extensive involvement in the Saudi army, economy and education system. However, the alliance was undermined by Saudi anxieties about the Egyptian government's promotion of anti-monarchical forces in the Arab World (including the uncovering of an Egyptian-style Saudi Free Officers Movement and increasing labour unrest). Egypt's increasing shift towards the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and efforts by Iraq and its western allies including the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to drive a wedge between the two countries. By 1958 this deterioration in the relationship had led to King Saud offering a bribe of £1.9 million to

Abdel Hamid al-Sarraj Abdul Hamid Sarraj (, September 1925 – 23September 2013) was a Syrian military officer and politician. When the United Arab Republic (the union between Egypt and Syria) was declared, Sarraj, a staunch Arab nationalist and supporter of Egyp ...

, the head of Syrian intelligence at the time and later Vice-President of the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. It was initially a short-lived political union between Republic of Egypt (1953–1958), Egypt (including Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Ara ...

, to secure the assassination of Nasser. Nasser_and_Faisal

Thus under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt, backed by the

, came to represent the

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...

and

pan-Arabism Pan-Arabism () is a Pan-nationalism, pan-nationalist ideology that espouses the unification of all Arabs, Arab people in a single Nation state, nation-state, consisting of all Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa from the Atlantic O ...

, and was a nominal advocate of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

and

republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology that encompasses a range of ideas from civic virtue, political participation, harms of corruption, positives of mixed constitution, rule of law, and others. Historically, it emphasizes the idea of self ...

. Pro-Nasser governments were often military dictatorships founded after a military coup against a conservative monarchy, such as Libya after the

1969 Libyan coup d'état The 1969 Libyan revolution, also known as the al-Fateh Revolution or 1 September Revolution, was a coup d'état and revolution carried out by the Free Officers Movement (Libya), Free Officers Movement, a group of Arab nationalism, Arab nationali ...

. The Saudis, by contrast, were strong supporters of absolute monarchy and Islamist

theocracy Theocracy is a form of autocracy or oligarchy in which one or more deity, deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries, with executive and legislative power, who manage the government's ...

, and were generally close to the governments of the

and

. The Saudi-Egyptian rivalry was the main conflict of the

Arab Cold War The Arab Cold War ( ''al-ḥarb al-`arabiyyah al-bāridah'') was a political rivalry in the Arab world from the early 1950s to the late 1970s and a part of the wider Cold War. It is generally accepted that the beginning of the Arab Cold War is ...

. For example, in the

North Yemen Civil War The North Yemen civil war, also known as the 26 September revolution, was a civil war fought in North Yemen from 1962 to 1970 between partisans of the Kingdom of Yemen, Mutawakkilite Kingdom and supporters of the Yemen Arab Republic. The war ...

, Nasser supported Arab republicans against the pro-Saudi Yemeni monarchy.

Anwar Sadat era

Relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia warmed considerably during Sadat's rule, with the Saudis playing a key role in persuading Sadat to carry out the expulsion of 20,000

Soviet Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

advisers from Egypt in 1972. The Saudis also doubled the amount of money they sent to Egypt in subsidies in the early 1970s to $200 million a year, bought French

Mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', mean ...

fighter jets on the Egyptians' behalf to reduce their reliance on Soviet military technology, and offered low-interest loans to Egypt. In 1973 The Egyptian and Saudi governments also co-ordinated the October - Yom Kippur War with the

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...

oil embargo against Israel's western allies, leading to the

1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...

. Sadat agreed to end the Egyptian ban on the activities of the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

after Saudi requests to rehabilitate thousands of members of the movement who had been imprisoned or exiled, many of whom were granted asylum in Saudi Arabia. However Saudi Arabia, along with the rest of the

countries, suspended diplomatic relations with Egypt in protest of the

Egypt–Israel peace treaty The Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., United States, on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Minist ...

after the Arab League minister's meeting in Baghdad calling for an economic and diplomatic boycott of Egypt. And on 2 April, 1979, the Saudi ambassador left Cairo.

Hosni Mubarak era

Mubarak's Egypt (1981 — 2011) continued the conservative dictatorship closely allied with the United States that started under Sadat, though sought to repair ties with the Arab nations broken in 1979. It would be another six years of Mubarak in office before the

allowed individual countries to decide on their own relations with Egypt, and on 17 November, 1987,

King Fahd Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; 1920, 1921 or 1923 – 1 August 2005) was King of Saudi Arabia, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 13 June 1982 until his death in 2005. Prior to his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 1 ...

announced that Saudi Arabia would officially resume diplomatic ties with Egypt to bolster Arab solidarity. They followed

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. A solidarity that was needed in light of the Iran-Iraq war.Ghattas, Kim (2020). ''Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East'' (1 ed.). New York: Henry Holt and Company. . . During the boycott, Saudi - Egyptian relations continued in non-political sectors such as culture and some aid, where prince Talal bin Abdulaziz made a rare visit during the boycott by a high level member of the

Saudi royal family The House of Saud ( ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi State, (1727–1818), and his brothers, though the ruling fa ...

to Egypt in 1984 as

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

envoy and head of the Arab Gulf Program for the United Nations Development (AGFUND), inaugurating projects funded by the agencies, and meeting the influential

Minister of Information An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given t ...

, Safwat al-Sharif. During his visit, Talal praised the civilian role of the

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

and stated how "Egypt is the heart of the Arab World and is indispensable." Nevertheless, over Mubarak's three decade rule, there remained a rivalry between the two countries, both aspiring to preeminence in the Arab World in general and among the Arab allies of the US in particular. This rivalry manifested itself, for example, when U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

made a major tour of the Middle East in 2009, soon after assuming power. The Saudis resented Obama's choice of Cairo as the venue for making a key policy speech, and State Department officials made an effort to mollify them by following up the Cairo speech with a high-profile Presidential visit to the Saudi capital. During the

2011 Egyptian revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January Revolution (;), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police holiday" as a statement against ...

, Saudi King Abdullah expressed support for

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

. "No Arab or Muslim can tolerate any meddling in the security and stability of Arab and Muslim Egypt by those who infiltrated the people in the name of freedom of expression, exploiting it to inject their destructive hatred. As they condemn this, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its people and government declares it stands with all its resources with the government of Egypt and its people." He condemned the "people who tried to destabilise the security and stability of Egypt."

2011–present

After the

, relations between the two countries greatly deteriorated.

2012 Saudi Arabia embassy lock-up

On 28 April 2012, Saudi Arabia announced the closure of its

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

embassy and its consulates in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

and

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

, following Egyptian protests over the detention of the Egyptian lawyer Ahmed al-Gizawi in Saudi Arabia.Egyptian protests over detained lawyer shut Saudi embassy
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', 28 April 2012. Earlier in April 2012, al-Gizawi was detained shortly after his arrival in Saudi Arabia, which some believe was because he defamed King Abdullah by filing a lawsuit in a South Cairo court against Saudi monarch King Abdullah on behalf of Egyptian citizens held without charge in Saudi prisons. Saudi authorities said he was arrested at the

King Abdulaziz International Airport King Abdulaziz International Airport (IATA airport code, IATA: JED, ICAO airport code, ICAO: OEJN, colloquially referred to as Jeddah Airport, Jeddah International Airport, or KAIA), is a major international airport serving the cities of Jedda ...

near

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

on 17 April for possession of 21,000

Xanax Alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax among others, is a fast-acting, potent tranquilizer of moderate duration within the triazolobenzodiazepine group of chemicals called benzodiazepines. Alprazolam is most commonly prescribed in the ...

anti-anxiety An anxiolytic (; also antipanic or anti-anxiety agent) is a medication or other intervention that reduces anxiety. This effect is in contrast to anxiogenic agents which increase anxiety. Anxiolytic medications are used for the treatment of anxiet ...

pills, which are banned in the country. They expressed doubt that he intended to go on a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

, as he was not wearing the typical white pilgrim dress (

Ihram ''Ihram'' (, from the Semitic root Ḥ-R-M) is a sacred state which a Muslim must enter to perform the Hajj, Ḥajj (major pilgrimage) or (minor pilgrimage) in Islam. A pilgrim must enter into this state before crossing the pilgrimage boundary ...

). According to his wife, he was sentenced ''in absentia'' to a year in prison and 20

lashes Lashes may refer to: * Lashes, a form of Flagellation Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, Birching, rods, Switch (rod), switches, the cat o' ni ...

after he arrived for a pilgrimage. An estimated 1,000 Egyptian protesters demonstrated in front of the Saudi embassy in Cairo on 27 April, demanding the release of al-Gizawi and of the other Egyptians held in Saudi jails. Following the protests Saudi authorities announced the closure of the Saudi embassy and other consulates in Egypt. Egypt's head of military council,

Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Muhammad Hussein Tantawi Soliman (; 31 October 1935 – 21 September 2021) was an Egyptian field marshal and politician. He was the commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces and, as chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, was ...

, said Egypt is working to heal the rift with Saudi Arabia over the surprise decision. Observers said that it is the worst fall-out in relations between the two countries since Saudi Arabia severed its ties with Egypt in 1979.

Reconciliation

Soon after the embassy incident, Saudi Arabia announced that they would return ambassador Ahmad Abdulaziz Kattan and his envoy to Egypt after feverish efforts by Egyptian politicians, fearing the loss of aid, to gain back Saudi favor. King Abdullah said that he could "not allow this passing crisis to go on for long". On 10 May 2012, ambassador Kattan announced that the kingdom agreed to provide US$500 million in aid to Egypt and will deposit an additional US$1 billion at the country's central bank as part of the $2.7 billion support package they had agreed in 2011. Saudi Arabia will also export $250 million worth of

butane Butane () is an alkane with the formula C4H10. Butane exists as two isomers, ''n''-butane with connectivity and iso-butane with the formula . Both isomers are highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gases that quickly vaporize at ro ...

to Egypt, which has faced ongoing shortages of the fuel, as well as US$200 million to help small and mid-sized firms. The donation was part of a move by multiple Gulf states to send a large aid package to Egypt.

Visit of Morsi

Egyptian President

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa Al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

, whose views are not fully aligned with those of the Saudi government. At the time, Saudi journalist

Jamal Khashoggi Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi (13 October 1958 – 2 October 2018) was a Saudi journalist, Saudi dissidents, dissident, author, columnist for ''Middle East Eye'' and ''The Washington Post'', and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab New ...

stated that Saudi Arabia is a pragmatic country and that whoever the president of Egypt is, Saudi government is aware of the fact that it has to maintain good relations with this country.

After July 2013

Saudi Arabia was among the various countries that explicitly welcomed the appointment of the interim government following the July 2013 removal of Morsi from office. Soon afterward, relations between the two countries improved greatly. In April 2016, King

Salman of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; born 31 December 1935) has been King of Saudi Arabia since 2015, and was Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2022. He is the 25th son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. He assumed the thron ...

made a five-day visit to Egypt, during which the two countries signed economic agreements worth approximately $25 billion and also made an agreement to "return" Tiran and Sanafir, two Egyptian-administered islands in the

Gulf of Aqaba The Gulf of Aqaba () or Gulf of Eilat () is a large gulf at the northern tip of the Red Sea, east of the Sinai Peninsula and west of the Arabian Peninsula. Its coastline is divided among four countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. ...

, to Saudi control. The announcement of the transfer of the islands provoked a backlash in Egypt, in both social media and traditional media, including outlets which had been firmly supportive of the Egyptian president

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution and 201 ...

. Over the issue between Saudi Arabia and Egypt on Sanafir and Tiran, talks between

Yitzhak Molcho Yitzhak Molcho (Hebrew: יצחק מולכו, born c. 1945) is an Israeli lawyer and former chief negotiator in the Israeli negotiating team with the Palestinians on behalf of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Legal career Molcho served ...

from Israel and Sameh Shoukry, the Foreign Minister of Egypt, were leaked, according to the

Middle East Monitor The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation and lobbying group that emerged in mid 2009. MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict but writes about other issues in the Middle East, as wel ...

. The

is linked to the "Middle East Monitor". The

Middle East Eye ''Middle East Eye'' (MEE) is a United Kingdom-based media website and channel that primarily focuses on news related to the Middle East, North Africa, and the broader Muslim world. The ownership of the organisation is undisclosed. Some sources ...

leaked the audio.

supporters are connected to the "Middle East Eye". Eric Trager noted that the tape was leaked by an agency run by the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt has also strongly backed the Saudi stance during the

Qatar diplomatic crisis The Qatar diplomatic crisis was a high-profile deterioration of relations between Qatar and the Arab League between 2017 and 2021. It began when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt simultaneously severed their bilateral relat ...

. In 2019, Saudi Arabia pledged an amount of $7 million for developmental projects in Egypt. In May 2021, the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Egypt said that citizens traveling to Egypt have to buy an entry visa upon arrival for $25 and can pay immediately on arrival.On March 12, 2025, the Parliament of

approved a bilateral investment protection agreement with

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. The agreement aims to enhance capital inflows, generate employment opportunities, and strengthen economic relations between the two countries.

Resident diplomatic missions

* Egypt has an embassy in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

and an consulate-general in

. * Saudi Arabia has an embassy in