Trump rejects Hormuz proposal, Tehran says it’s still waiting for an official response

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back. Today’s issue is for the artists, the creatives, and the relentlessly curious. The Enterprise Guide this week rounds up artist residencies open to Egyptian artists — in Cairo, across the Arab region, and internationally — including some currently accepting applications.

Elsewhere in today’s issue: We have a podcast for anyone who has ever gone down a rabbit hole wondering how something works, only to find out three hours later that they now know far more about the history of elevators than they ever expected to — it just happens. Nations League Matchday 2 is also underway tonight, with Haaland and Ronaldo on the same pitch, and the She Arts Festival kicks off next Thursday at AUC Tahrir.

But first, the news…

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

🌐 The US-Iran chronicles continue to dominate the front pages this afternoon. Iran says it is still waiting for an official US response to its peace proposal, even after US President Donald Trump publicly rejected the plan, which would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in seven days. “We are waiting for the mediators to ​convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. Iran maintains that its ceasefire proposal — including nuclear talks — is contingent on the US lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales, and observing a ceasefire that would include Lebanon.

^^Read more on: Associated Press, BBC, CNN, and Reuters.

IN OTHER NEWS- The AI scare escalates as OpenAI announces it is pausing training of its latest models, following reports on Friday that another AI agent broke out of a secure testing environment and gained access to the internet. The latest incident comes on the heels of the Hugging Face breach, which OpenAI has called “the most severe event” it has seen. The company said it will resume training “only when we are confident that we have additional safeguards.”

^^Read more on: Bloomberg, CNBC, and The Guardian.

We’re delighted to welcome Ahmed Demerdash Badrawi (Dasha) as a guest speaker at the 2026 EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum — the AI edition.

Dasha serves as Executive Vice Chairman of MARAKEZ, a member of the Fawaz Alhokair Group, one of the largest Saudi-based foreign investors in Egypt across real estate, retail, and renewables. He joined the Group to lead its new phase of development and expansion in Egypt, establishing MARAKEZ in 2015.

Today, MARAKEZ operates 4 malls in Cairo and the governorates hosting over 700 retailers across 320k sqm of GLA with more than 30 mn visitors per year, alongside 250k sqm of office space, over 4.7k residential homes in East and West Cairo, and developments in Ras El Hekma and the Red Sea.

In 10 years, MARAKEZ has become the leading mixed-use developer in Egypt with one of the largest recurring revenue platforms in the country.

Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Attendance is by invitation only, and we've reached full capacity.

Request your invitation here to join the waitlist.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• Fitch says the proposed US clampdown on Banque Misr’s (BM) UAE branches will have a limited impact on the bank’s credit rating, affirming BM at B/Stable/b. The outpost accounts for less than 5% of BM’s assets and net income. The agency flagged potential reputational spillovers that could weaken BM’s business profile or its ability to raise foreign-currency funding, either of which could pressure its Viability Rating;
• The central bank held interest rates steady for a fifth consecutive meeting, but its guidance language has changed. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) dropped the “positive real interest-rate margin” formulation it had used consistently since April. It replaced “ready to adjust policy” with a broader commitment to “deploy all available policy tools” and removed the reference to returning to the inflation target “in the near term.” Instead, the statement said, “the current degree of policy restrictiveness serves as a buffer” against upside risks, sufficient to preserve the projected disinflation path;
• The government has put drug pricing on a new rules-based footing, with the Egyptian Drug Authority tying price reviews to a weighted mix of FX movements, inflation, and interest rates, under a new framework published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday, effective Thursday, 24 September. FX carries 60% of the formula, urban inflation 30%, and changes in the CBE’s overnight deposit rate the remaining 10%;
• Qalaa Holdings swung to a EGP 2.0 bn net income after minority interests in 2Q 2026, reversing a EGP 1.2 bn loss a year earlier. Revenue more than doubled y-o-y to EGP 54.5 bn during the period and recurring EBITDA jumped almost tenfold to EGP 18.2 bn. In 1H 2026, revenue rose 52% to EGP 94.7 bn, and the group booked EGP 185.2 mn in net income after minority interests.

The Egyptian government locked in enough LNG and crude to carry the country through peak demand this summer, and the real question now is who pays for it and for the rebuild ahead.

PowerTrip, our new four-part signature series, follows the money behind an energy sector that went from exporting gas to importing it in just five years.

Over the four issues this autumn, we’ll look at how the lights stayed on and what that cost, who will own the next generation of power, how fast renewables can really scale, and whether Egypt’s claim to be the region’s energy hub still holds.

Issue I lands Wednesday, 30 September, and looks at how Egypt avoided rationing this summer, what the gas shortfall means for the economy, and where oil is headed over the next 18 months.

Coming straight to your inbox — Wednesday, 30 September.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The weather remains steady in C-town, with the mercury peaking at 32°C tomorrow, alongside sunny conditions, before dropping down to a clear 22°C overnight, according to our favorite weather app.