Egypt’s new leaders have inherited Mubarak’s dilemma – how to realize the country’s aspiration to lead the Arab world without angering its Saudi benefactors. For this reason, the Egyptian-Iranian rapprochement will yield more photo opportunities than tangible results. On opposite sides of religious and ethnic divides, a close bilateral relationship would seem unlikely under even the best circumstances. And, with Egypt in need of massive financial aid to offset the economic losses caused by its February revolution, its leaders can ill afford to alienate the Saudis, who view Iran, not Israel, as the gravest threat to regional stability.
而如今的埃及新领导人也继承了穆巴拉克所面对的两难局面——如何在不惹怒沙特金主的情况下实现该国领导阿拉伯世界的远大抱负？因此埃及与伊朗的重新接触将不过是些表面文章。在两国民族和宗教派别差异巨大的情况下，一个紧密的双边关系即便在最乐观的环境下都难以实现。而随着埃及需要大笔的经济援助来弥补其“2月革命”所造成的损失，新领导人更加不可能激怒沙特，因为在后者看来，伊朗（而非以色列）才是对区域稳定的最大威胁。