Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, discussed the situation in the Middle East and efforts to de-escalate the situation in the region on Tuesday.

This came during a phone call Sisi received from Trump, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.

The Egyptian presidency said in the same statement that Trump congratulated Sisi on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which began Monday in Egypt.

The Egyptian and American presidents discussed "ways to strengthen bilateral relations, emphasizing the depth and strength of the strategic ties between the two countries and their commitment to continuing this cooperation to achieve the common interests of the two peoples."

The Egyptian and American presidents discussed "developments in the Middle East and mediation efforts to restore calm to the region, which would positively impact navigation in the Red Sea and prevent economic losses for all parties," according to the statement.

In late December 2024, the Egyptian presidency announced in a statement that the Suez Canal lost approximately $7 billion in revenue during the same year due to tensions in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which negatively impacted shipping traffic and the sustainability of global supply chains.

While the statement did not mention the Suez Canal's total revenues for 2024, the figure for 2023 reached $10.25 billion, according to official data.

The region has witnessed an escalation since January 2024, when the Houthis began directly targeting American ships, after previously focusing their attacks on Israeli or Israeli-linked vessels in solidarity with Gaza.

In early March 2025, the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza ended, but Israel re-closed the crossings days later, preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Strip.

Following the breach of the agreement and the closure of the crossings at the beginning of Ramadan, the Houthi group announced the resumption of its attacks on ships linked to Israel, with the aim of pressuring Tel Aviv to halt its war of extermination in Gaza.

In response, Trump announced in mid-March that he had ordered the US military to launch a "major attack" on Houthi positions in Yemen, a new escalation in a series of growing tensions in the region.