The Egyptian president’s office says President Donald Trump called President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stress the “strength of the friendship” between the two allies.

The presidency said after the phone call late on Thursday that the American president promised to continue to “develop” the two countries’ relationship in order to “overcome any obstacles.”

Washington did not immediately confirm the phone call. It followed the Trump administration’s decision this week to cut or delay nearly $300 million in military and economic aid to Egypt over human rights concerns.

Egypt reacted angrily, with the Foreign Ministry calling the U.S. decision a “misjudgment of the nature of the strategic relations that have bound the two countries for decades.”

The aid cut was also a surprise, given the increasingly close ties between Trump and el-Sissi.

(AP)