Iran drops Sadat assassin’s name from street to honour Nasrallah and mend ties with Egypt

Tehran's municipality announced on Sunday the renaming of Khaled Al-Islambouli Street to Hassan Nasrallah Street, in honour of the Hezbollah leader assassinated by Israel.

The announcement, reported by Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, marks a shift in tone from Tehran and a move to ease diplomatic rifts with Cairo.

Al-Islambouli, an army officer and member of the Islamist group Egyptian Islamic Jihad, assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981 in protest against the Camp David peace treaty with Israel. Iran had long celebrated him as a "martyr", and the naming of a street after him fuelled decades of diplomatic tension with Egypt.

The decision comes as relations between Iran and Egypt begin to warm after years of estrangement. Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Cairo and held "fruitful" meetings with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and his counterpart Badr Abdelatty.

Araghchi told reporters in Cairo.: "There is only one obstacle remaining."

According to a senior Egyptian source speaking to Ahram Online, that obstacle referred to the name of the Islambouli street. Iran's decision to rename it "shows seriousness," the source added.

The renaming is being viewed as a key symbolic step toward eventual normalisation, though Egypt remains cautious and insists on further commitments on broader Arab security concerns.

Despite the two countries resuming formal relations more than a decade ago, there remain frictions.

"There are other, more important issues related to Arab security," the source warned. "We are proceeding step by step. Eventually we will get there, when, we don’t know."