Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is panicking. Behind the gilded doors of his multi-billion-dollar New Administrative Capital, Egypt’s president is working the phones, making frantic appeals to Gulf monarchs. Publicly, Sisi projects the image of a stoic military strongman guarding the gates of the Arab world’s most populous nation. Privately, he is a leader terrified that a wider regional conflict involving Iran will finally collapse his economic house of cards.

As the shadow of an expanding war looms over the Middle East, Sisi’s recent moves—emergency food-reserve checks, frantic diplomatic shuttling, and dire public warnings about maritime security—reveal a regime acutely aware of its own fragility.

The Suez Bleed and the Gulf Lifeline

Sisi’s recent warnings about potential disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz and the broader “collapse” of Suez Canal revenues are not mere geopolitical observations; they are a distress signal. Over the past two years, Houthi aggression in the Red Sea—directed and supplied by Tehran—has devastated........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)