Egypt foreign minister says relations between Cairo and Washington are in "turmoil" following the US decision to suspend delivery of military aid to the North African country.

In an interview with al-Ahram newspaper, Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said the shaky US-Egypt relations would also endanger American interests and could hurt the entire Middle East.

"We are now in a delicate state reflecting the turmoil in the relationship and anyone who says otherwise is not speaking honestly," Fahmy added

The top diplomat also criticized Washington’s last week decision to curb military and economic aid to Cairo.

Cairo's military-backed interim government has repeatedly said it would not give into US pressure.

“The decision was wrong. Egypt will not surrender to American pressure and is continuing its path towards democracy as set by the roadmap,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Badr Abdelatty, told a private Egyptian radio station on Thursday.


Washington recently decided to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in its annual aid to Egypt. US officials said the move showed America’s unhappiness with Egypt since the overthrow of former president, Mohamed Morsi, in early July by the Egyptian army.

US Department of State spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said last Wednesday that the United States had frozen the “delivery of certain large-scale military systems and cash assistance to the government pending credible progress toward an inclusive, democratically-elected civilian government through free and fair elections.”

Washington’s decision to “recalibrate” its annual USD 1.5-billion aid to Egypt will halt the delivery of Apache helicopters, Harpoon missiles, F-16 fighter jets and M1A1 Abrams tanks.

The Pentagon has already canceled a planned military exercise with Egypt and delayed the delivery of four F-16 warplanes.

The developments came months after the head of Egypt’s armed forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, announced on July 3 that President Morsi was no longer in office, in what has been described as a “military coup.”

Morsi has been held in an unknown location since his overthrow and is due to stand trial on November 4 on charges of inciting violence.