Why Egyptians Cheer for Iran's Missiles: The Truth Behind the Cold Peace and the Fury of a Nation

This is not a story about sectarian politics or geopolitical alliances. It is a story about the soul of a nation - about what happens when a people are told to make peace with an occupation they cannot accept, to normalize relations with an enemy that continues to kill their brothers. It is a story about dignity, about the refusal to forget, and about the quiet fury that burns beneath the surface of a cold peace signed four decades ago.

From the window of my apartment in the West, I watch the news. They speak of missiles, of escalation, of diplomatic maneuvers. They do not understand what they are seeing. They do not see the cafes of Cairo erupting in cheers when the footage airs. They do not see the memes, the jokes, the viral videos of Egyptian restaurants using missile strikes as promotional material. They do not understand that forty-six years of cold peace has never once warmed the heart of the Egyptian people. I am writing this to explain what the Western media cannot comprehend: why Egyptians - Sunni Muslims, proud of their faith - are cheering for Shia Iran.

THE MISSILE PARTY

The Night the Sky Burned

It began on a Saturday. February 28, 2026. The United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic . Within days, Iran responded with a barrage of missiles - not just toward Israel, but toward American bases and allies across the region. Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates. Bahrain. Kuwait. Jordan. All of them were struck .

In Abu Dhabi, a man was killed. On Dubai’s Palm Islands, fires broke out near a hotel. Across the Gulf, air defense systems lit up the night sky, intercepting what they could .

And in Egypt - in Cairo, in Alexandria, in the Nile Delta towns and the alleyways of Old Cairo - millions of Egyptians watched. They gathered in coffee shops, in living rooms, on rooftops. They pulled out their phones. And they cheered.

Not a quiet, private cheer. A public, unashamed, joyful celebration. Videos flooded social media: Egyptian families gathered around televisions, raising their hands in victory. Jokes circulated about “Iranian catering” delivering to Israeli cities. One Egyptian restaurant chain, Ahmed Nada, created a promotional video that spliced footage of Iranian missiles striking Tel Aviv with shots of food sizzling in a pan. The text read, in effect: “If you smell something cooking, it’s Iran serving dinner” .

The video went viral. It sparked outrage among some - mostly outside Egypt. But inside Egypt, the response was overwhelmingly positive. One commenter wrote: “Now that’s a restaurant I’d go to.” Another joked: “If you smell… Iran is cooking!” .

This is not a story about a restaurant. It is a story about a nation. A nation that, according to every official agreement, is supposed to be at peace with Israel. A nation that receives billions of dollars in American military aid. A nation whose president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, immediately called the leaders of the Gulf states to express “full solidarity” with them after the Iranian strikes .

And yet, the people cheered for Iran.

The Paradox That Western Media Cannot Explain

To the Western observer, this makes no sense. Egypt is a Sunni-majority country. Iran is Shia. Egypt is officially at peace with Israel. Iran is Israel’s sworn enemy. Egypt receives $1.3 billion a year in American military aid. Iran is the target of American strikes.

By any rational calculation of geopolitical interest, Egyptians should be supporting the United States, supporting the Gulf states, supporting Israel against Iran.

But they are not. And the reason has nothing to do with rationality as the West defines it. It has to do with something older, deeper, more visceral: dignity. Memory. The refusal to forget.

The Egyptian analyst Anwar El Hawary put it plainly: “The simple Egyptian stands with his heart and mind on Iran’s side; saddened by any victory for Israel and realizing that its might is a danger to all” .

Haitham Mohamedain, a prominent political activist, wrote on Facebook: “A victory by Iran is a victory for the Egyptian people. Nothing good could come from victory by the Zionist enemy” .

This is not a new sentiment. It is not a product of the current war. It is the continuation of a feeling that has simmered beneath the surface of Egyptian society for nearly five decades - ever since Anwar Sadat shook hands with Menachem Begin on the White House lawn and signed a peace treaty that the Egyptian people never accepted.

The Cold Peace That Never Warmed

In March 1979, when Sadat and Begin signed the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, the world celebrated. The first Arab nation had recognized Israel. A Nobel Peace Prize was awarded. The headlines called it a historic breakthrough.

But in Egypt, the reaction was different. Millions poured into the streets - not to celebrate, but to weep. To chant slogans of rage and defiance. To call Sadat a traitor. Five days after the treaty, Egypt’s membership in the Arab League was suspended .

The treaty was never rooted in reconciliation. It was survival. Sadat wanted the Sinai Peninsula back. He wanted to pivot Egypt toward the West. Israel wanted security on its southern border. Both got what they wanted. But neither got what they needed: mutual trust, genuine friendship, a peace that would live in the hearts of the people.

For over forty-five years, the Egyptian government has cooperated with Israel on intelligence, security, and gas deals. Embassies have been opened. Ambassadors exchanged. But the soul of Egyptian society never followed. Egyptian media, academia, religious institutions, and street culture remained firmly anti-Israel . The peace treaty was a transaction, not a transformation. And the Egyptian people never signed on.

In 2011, during the Arab Spring, protesters in Cairo chanted: “Generation after generation, we will remain your enemies, Israel.” In 2023, the same chants returned during the Gaza war. In 2025, Egyptian President Sisi himself declared at an Arab League summit that “true peace will never exist” until a Palestinian state is established .

That is the official position of the Egyptian government - a government that, at the same time, receives American aid and coordinates with Israel on security matters. Imagine the gap between what the government says and what the people feel. The government speaks of strategic partnerships. The people remember every drop of blood.

The Gaza Genocide and the Breaking Point

If the Egyptian people never accepted the peace treaty, the Gaza war of 2023–2025 pushed them past the point of no return. For over a year, the world watched as Israel bombed Gaza - schools, hospitals, residential buildings. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed. The majority of them women and children.

Egypt shares a border with Gaza. The Rafah crossing, the only gateway out of the enclave that does not go through Israel, became the focus of global attention. Egypt sent aid. Egypt hosted ceasefire talks. But Egypt could not stop the killing.

The Egyptian people watched their brothers and sisters in Gaza being massacred while their government, bound by the peace treaty and American pressure, could do little more than issue statements. The frustration was immense. The fury was real.

And then, in February 2026, Israel and the United States struck Iran. The war expanded. And for the first time in years, someone was hitting back.

The Iranian missiles that flew toward American bases and Israeli targets were not just military ordnance. For millions of Egyptians, they were vengeance. They were the response that Egypt itself could not deliver. They were proof that someone, somewhere, was willing to fight.

The Tehran Times, reporting on Egyptian sentiment, put it this way: “Egyptians instinctively hate Israel and support anyone who opposes it. The association between ‘resistance’ and opposition to Israel has pushed most Egyptians toward supporting Hezbollah and Hamas. Egyptians came to believe that Israel’s attacks on Iran were aimed at silencing and suppressing a state that supports the resistance. Moreover, Israel’s conduct in Gaza - and Egypt’s inability to save Gaza - has exposed the brutality of Israel, making Egyptians feel that this brutality could one day threaten their own country” .

This is not about Shia or Sunni. This is not about Khamenei or the Revolutionary Guards. This is about the simple, visceral feeling that finally, someone is standing up to the alliance that has humiliated the Arab world for generations.

THE FURY THAT NEVER DIED

Every Drop of Blood

I want to take you back. Not to 2026. Not to 2023. To 1967. The year the Arab world was shattered.

In six days, Israel destroyed the Egyptian air force on the ground, occupied the Sinai Peninsula, and seized the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. The defeat was total. The humiliation was complete.

For the Arab world, 1967 was not just a military loss. It was an existential wound. Nasser, the leader who had promised to restore Arab dignity, died of a heart attack three years later, his dreams in ruins .

And then came 1973. The October War. Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israeli positions in the Sinai and the Golan. For the first time, Arab armies fought with competence and courage. The Egyptian army crossed the Suez Canal, breached the Bar-Lev Line, and reclaimed a strip of the Sinai. The Syrian army fought its way onto the Golan Heights.

For a few days, the Arab world celebrated. This was the war that would restore honor.

But the celebration did not last. The United States rushed supplies to Israel, enabling it to regain the upper hand. The Egyptian forces, under Sadat, halted their offensive. Syria was left to fight alone. The war ended with Israel still in possession of most of the territory it had seized in 1967 .

For many Egyptians, the lesson of 1973 was not that war was futile. It was that victory had been within reach - and that it had been surrendered. Hesitancy, they came to believe, was the real killer. The refusal to act eventually gives the enemy the time it needs to regroup, to resupply, to win .

When Sadat then pivoted to peace, when he signed the treaty with Israel and abandoned the Palestinian cause, millions of Egyptians saw it as the final betrayal. The man who had led them to war in 1973 had sold them out in 1979.

The Greater Israel: From the Nile to the Euphrates

The peace treaty was supposed to end Egypt’s conflict with Israel. It did not. It merely froze it. And now, as Israel emerges from years of war with its military capabilities enhanced and its regional adversaries weakened, the old fears have returned.

Israeli politicians have increasingly spoken of realizing a “Greater Israel” - a state whose borders extend from the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates River in Iraq . This is not a fringe idea. It is rooted in biblical imagery, but it has real political currency among the Israeli right. And for Egyptians, it is an existential threat.

Retired Egyptian General Samir Farag, a military analyst known to be close to the government, stated bluntly: “We are the only ones now left in Israel’s way” .

Farag believes that Israel’s next step could be to secure a military presence on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, possibly through the breakaway region of Somaliland, which Israel has recognized. “That will be a big problem for us,” he said, “because we will never accept the presence of Israel or Ethiopia on the Red Sea” .

The Egyptian military has taken these threats seriously. Since the Gaza war began, Egypt has quietly built up its forces on the Israeli border. Military doctrine now identifies Israel as the most likely adversary in any future conflict . Defense Minister Gen Ashraf Zaher has been inspecting combat units to ensure their readiness .

This is the context in which Egyptians watch the current war. They see Israel - with American backing - destroying its enemies one by one. Hamas in Gaza. Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Houthis in Yemen. The Syrian military infrastructure. And now Iran .

Each victory makes Israel stronger. Each defeat makes the Arabs weaker. And the Egyptians are watching, calculating, fearing that they are next.

The Silence of the Gulf

There is another layer to this fury. The Gulf states - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain - have hosted American military bases for decades. To many Egyptians, these bases are not about protecting the Gulf. They are about protecting Israel.

The Egyptian influencer Tarek Habib captured this sentiment in a post that went viral. He criticized Gulf leaders for hosting US military bases, accusing them of prioritizing Washington and Israel over the security of their own countries. He wrote that he wished he had the ability given to Prophet Solomon to communicate with animals, so he could convey his message directly to Gulf rulers: American bases in the Gulf are not designed to protect the host nations but to safeguard Israel and American interests .

This is not a fringe view. It is widely held. Egyptians watch as American weapons flow to Israel. They watch as American planes bomb Gaza, as American ships patrol the Red Sea, as American bases dot the Arabian Peninsula. And they ask: whose side is America really on?

When Iran’s missiles struck American bases and Gulf cities in March 2026, the Gulf governments condemned the attacks. The Egyptian government, officially, did the same. But the Egyptian people? They saw something different. They saw the American-backed Gulf states finally tasting a fraction of the destruction that has been visited upon Gaza, upon Iraq, upon Syria, upon Yemen.

The former Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, a respected Egyptian diplomat, posted on X that the American-Israeli attack on Iran was “a planned and strategic American move in which Washington has employed Israel as a regional partner, and a major step toward reshaping the Middle East - including the Arab world - into a regional geopolitical order that Israel seeks to lead” .

Moussa did not condemn Iran’s missile strikes on the Gulf. He described them merely as “mistakes” . This provoked a furious response from Gulf journalists, who accused Moussa of ignoring the Iranian threat. But to Egyptians, Moussa’s words resonated. He was speaking to a deeper truth: the real threat is not Iran. The real threat is the alliance that seeks to reshape the region under Israeli leadership.

THE UNBREAKABLE BOND

Palestine Is Not a Cause. It Is a Wound.

For the Egyptian people, Palestine is not a political issue. It is a wound that has never healed.

When the state of Israel was declared in 1948, Egyptian soldiers fought alongside other Arab armies to prevent the dispossession of the Palestinian people. They failed. The Nakba - the catastrophe - resulted in the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. Egyptian society absorbed many of those refugees. Gaza itself, for nearly two decades, was administered by Egypt.

When Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in 1967, Egypt was humiliated. When Sadat signed the peace treaty in 1979, abandoning the Palestinian cause, millions of Egyptians felt that they had been personally betrayed.

The Palestinian cause is woven into Egyptian identity. It is taught in schools. It is preached in mosques. It is sung in songs. It is passed from father to son, from mother to daughter, as a sacred trust.

And now, for over a year, Egyptians have watched the genocide in Gaza. They have watched Israeli bombs destroy hospitals where their own doctors once trained. They have watched children pulled from rubble - children with the same names, the same faces, the same dreams as their own children. And they have been unable to do anything.

The Egyptian government has been constrained. It cannot open the border fully without risking the permanent displacement of Palestinians - something Egypt opposes as a betrayal of the right of return. It cannot break the peace treaty without losing American aid and facing possible war. It cannot act.

So the Egyptian people sit, night after night, watching the news, watching the death toll climb, watching their government do nothing. And then Iran launches missiles. And someone, finally, is hitting back.

When the footage of Iranian missiles striking Tel Aviv circulated, one commenter wrote: “Iran is cooking.” The joke is crude. But the sentiment beneath it is not. It is the cry of a people who have been told for forty-six years to make peace with an enemy that continues to kill their brothers. It is the cry of a people who have watched their government receive American aid while Gazans starve. It is the cry of a people who have been silenced, suppressed, told to be grateful for a cold peace that never warmed.

The Sectarianism That Never Was

Western analysts often frame the Middle East in terms of sectarian conflict: Shia versus Sunni. Iran versus Saudi Arabia. The axis of resistance versus the axis of moderation.

But the Egyptian people have never fully accepted this framing. When they look at Iran, they do not see Shia. They see Muslims. They see a country that stood up to the United States. They see a country that supports the Palestinian resistance. They see a country that is not afraid to fight.

The Egyptian analyst Anwar El Hawary explained: “The simple Egyptian stands with his heart and mind on Iran’s side; saddened by any victory for Israel and realizing that its might is a danger to all” . Haitham Mohamedain wrote: “A victory by Iran is a victory for the Egyptian people” .

This is not about theology. This is about politics. It is about the perception that Iran is the only power in the region willing to confront Israel and the United States. And for a people who have been told for decades to accept the status quo, to normalize, to move on - this is deeply attractive.

There is a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad that resonates here. He said: “The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim. He does not oppress him, nor does he abandon him, nor does he look down upon him.” For many Egyptians, supporting Iran is not about approving of the Iranian regime. It is about not abandoning a fellow Muslim who is fighting against a common enemy.

X. The Normalization That Will Never Come

There is a word that haunts the Egyptian political imagination: “tatbi” - normalization. It is the process by which Arab countries establish diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations with Israel. The Abraham Accords brought the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan into the normalization fold. Egypt normalized in 1979. Jordan normalized in 1994.

But for the Egyptian people, normalization has always been a dirty word. It is associated with betrayal. With abandoning the Palestinian cause. With accepting the unacceptable.

The Jerusalem Post, in an analysis of Egyptian-Israeli relations, put it bluntly: “There was no real normalization. Egypt and Israel cooperate on intelligence, security, and gas deals, but the relationship remains cold, rigid, and transactional. Egyptian media, academia, religious institutions, and street culture never followed the government’s lead. Cairo signed a treaty, but the Egyptian people never signed on to peace” .

Even the Egyptian government, under Sisi, has been careful not to push normalization too far. The president himself stated that “true peace will never exist” until a Palestinian state is established . The peace treaty is a strategic necessity, not a genuine reconciliation.

And now, with the war in Gaza, with the escalation against Iran, the gap between the government’s policy and the people’s sentiment has grown wider than ever. Egyptians see the Abraham Accords states normalizing with Israel while Israel bombs Gaza. They see the Gulf states hosting American bases while American weapons kill Palestinians. And they feel, more than ever, that the only true path is resistance.

The Egyptian influencer Tarek Habib captured this sentiment: “US bases in the Gulf are not designed to protect the host nations but to safeguard Israel and American interests” . This is the belief that drives the Egyptian fury: that the entire American presence in the region is designed to protect Israel, not the Arabs.

THE ACCOUNTING

The American Bases on Arab Soil

One of the deepest sources of Egyptian resentment is the presence of American military bases on Arab soil. Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia - all host American forces. Egypt does not, but Egyptians watch their Gulf brothers hosting the very power that arms Israel.

This is not just about geopolitics. It is about dignity. It is about the humiliation of having foreign soldiers on Arab soil. It is about the sense that Arab leaders have surrendered their sovereignty to protect Israeli interests.

When Iran’s missiles struck American bases in the Gulf, many Egyptians felt a grim satisfaction. Not because they wanted the Gulf to suffer - Egypt has deep ties with the Gulf states, and millions of Egyptians work there. But because for once, the American bases were being hit instead of Arabs.

The controversy over the Egyptian restaurant’s missile-themed ad is telling. The restaurant did not create the video in a vacuum. It was responding to a popular mood. And when the video went viral, the response from Egyptians was overwhelmingly positive . The outrage came from outside.

This is the gap that Western media cannot bridge. They see an Egyptian restaurant making light of missile strikes. Egyptians see a people finally able to laugh at the power that has oppressed them.

The Strategy of Humiliation

There is a method to the Western approach in the Middle East. It is not stated explicitly, but it is understood: divide and rule. Keep the Arabs weak. Keep them dependent. Keep them fighting among themselves while Israel grows stronger.

The peace treaty with Egypt was part of this strategy. It took Egypt - the largest Arab military power - out of the conflict. It turned Egypt from a potential adversary into a strategic partner. And it left the Palestinians alone to face Israel.

For forty-six years, this strategy has worked. Egypt has not gone to war with Israel. The peace treaty has held. But it has held at a cost. The Egyptian people have never accepted it. And now, as the region descends into war, that resentment is boiling over.

Amr Moussa warned: “The current attack on Iran is not merely an Israeli adventure. It is a planned and strategic American move aimed at reshaping the Middle East - including the Arab world - into a regional geopolitical order that Israel seeks to lead” .

This is the fear that drives Egyptian support for Iran. Not love of the Islamic Republic. Not approval of its policies. But the recognition that the American-Israeli project is not about peace. It is about domination. And the only force that has consistently opposed that domination is Iran.

XIII. The Regret That Cannot Be Spoken

There is something that few Egyptians will say out loud, but many feel: regret. Regret that Sadat signed the peace treaty. Regret that Egypt abandoned the Palestinian cause. Regret that the Arab world has been reduced to a collection of client states, dependent on American aid, unable to defend their own dignity.

The Israeli analyst Amine Ayoub, writing in the Jerusalem Post, described the situation with unusual candor: “The Israel-Egypt treaty is often celebrated in Western capitals. But in Cairo, it’s still a source of shame, resentment, and denial. That’s the paradox: a peace that stopped wars but didn’t stop the hate” .

When Egyptians cheer for Iranian missiles, they are not cheering for Khamenei. They are cheering for something they have lost: the ability to fight back. They are cheering for the resistance that their own country abandoned decades ago.

The Children Who Will Not Forget

I think about the children. The children of Gaza, who have been killed in numbers that defy comprehension. The children of Egypt, who watch the news and ask their parents why they cannot do anything. The children who will inherit this rage.

The Egyptian people will never normalize. Not because they are inherently hateful. But because they remember every drop of blood. They remember 1948. They remember 1967. They remember 1973. They remember Gaza. They remember the children.

There is a verse in the Quran that says: “Do not think that those who are killed in the way of Allah are dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision.” The martyrs of Gaza are alive. And the Egyptian people will not forget them.

When Iran launches missiles toward Israel, Egyptians see the possibility of justice. They see someone, somewhere, who is willing to fight for what they believe. And in a world where their own government has been constrained, where their own leaders have made peace with the enemy, that is enough to cheer for.

A Message to the West

I am writing this in a Western country. I live here. I have built a life here. I do not hate the West. But I cannot accept the narrative that the West has constructed about this conflict.

You see missiles. We see resistance. You see sectarianism. We see solidarity. You see a peace treaty. We see a betrayal.

The Egyptian people are not fooled by the rhetoric of moderation. They know that the peace treaty was not about peace. It was about survival. They know that American aid is not about helping Egypt. It is about buying Egypt’s compliance. They know that the Abraham Accords are not about coexistence. They are about consolidating Israeli power.

When you watch the news and see Egyptians cheering for Iranian missiles, do not dismiss it as irrational. Do not explain it away as sectarian frenzy. Understand it for what it is: the cry of a people who have been silenced for forty-six years, who have watched their brothers slaughtered, who have been told to make peace with the oppressor.

We will not make peace. We will not normalize. We will not forget.

And every night, when the news comes on, when the missiles fly, we will watch. And we will cheer. Not because we love Iran. But because we remember. Because the wound of 1948 has never healed. Because the betrayal of 1979 has never been forgiven. Because the children of Gaza have not been forgotten.

You may call it irrational. You may call it sectarian. You may call it whatever you need to call it to sleep at night. But it is the truth. And the truth is this: the Egyptian people have never accepted the peace. And they never will.

The Accounting

There will be an accounting. There is always an accounting. The leaders who signed away the dignity of their people will answer for what they did. The foreign powers that armed the oppressor will answer for what they did. The media that spun the occupation as peace will answer for what they did.

But that accounting is not for us to deliver. Our role is to remember. To bear witness. To pass the story to our children so that they do not forget.

I am an Egyptian Muslim living in the West. I have two children. They were born here. They speak English. They attend Western schools. But they know where they come from. They know the story of Palestine. They know the story of Gaza. They know that their father’s people will never normalize with an occupation that has stolen land, killed children, and erased families.

One day, they will tell their children. And their children will tell their children. And the memory will not die.

The missiles that fly over the Middle East tonight will not bring peace. They will not end the occupation. They will not return the land to its people. But they are a reminder that the resistance has not died. That somewhere, someone is still willing to fight.

And for a people who have been told to accept, to normalize, to forget - that is enough to cheer for.