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"For fifteen years the military regime that took power in Egypt in 1952 enjoyed a contentious but respectful bilateral relationship with the United States. After Israel devastated the Egyptian military in the 1967 War, however, Cairo severed diplomatic ties with Washington., dipYears later, compatible strategic aims brought the two governments back together. While Anwar Sadat strove to restore Egypt's territory and solvency, the White House sought to reduce Soviet influence in the Middle East. A US-Egyptian alliance served both parties, but it took a daring military assault by Sadat to impress the wisdom of the friendship upon the Nixon administration. What followed was one of the most tectonic shifts of the Cold War: the complete return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt; a lasting peace between Israel and Egypt, Israel's most formidable regional adversary; and a strategic pact between the United States and Egypt, previously a key client of the Soviet Union. After the Iranian Revolution, Egypt became a component of America's new strategy for preserving its influence over the Persian Gulf"--