The parliament is pressing for more: it has asked the government to explain how two Iranian naval ships that docked in Syria on February 18 were allowed to pass through Egypt's Suez Canal linking Europe and Asia. Tehran is a close ally of Damascus.
It was also parliamentary pressure, say Brotherhood officials, which led to the government's February 21 decision to increase power supplies to Gaza, the Palestinian territory that borders Egypt and is run by Hamas, another Brotherhood offshoot.
Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas government in Gaza, thanked Egypt for the fuel after a February 23 meeting in Cairo with the speaker of parliament, himself from the Brotherhood. The next day, Hamas itself turned publicly against their long-time ally Assad, endorsing the revolt against him for the first time.
Ever more frequent Hamas visits to Cairo hint at the potential for deeper ties between the different branches of a Sunni movement united by a similar brand of Islamist thought but not a single political structure.
Egypt's moves on Gaza and Syria could be the first hint of the type of foreign policy the Brotherhood will pursue - one seeking to assert a more robust Egyptian regional role after years of declining influence.
U.S. HOPE AND APPREHENSION
Mubarak's critics say he oversaw that decline, aligning Egypt too closely with the United States and Israel instead of taking the bolder approach of a state such as Turkey, a regional heavyweight whose government has Islamist roots and which some in the Brotherhood see as a model.
U.S. influence has been thrust into the headlines because of an inquiry into the role of U.S.-based democracy groups in Egypt, a case that Washington says could put at risk some $1.5 billion in annual aid, $1.3 billion of it to Egypt's military.
The case of the American civil society workers was on the agenda of a delegation of U.S. Senators who met the Brotherhood during a February 20 visit to Cairo.
"I was very apprehensive when I heard their election results," Lindsey Graham, a Republican Senator, said. "But after visiting and talking to the Muslim Brotherhood, I am hopeful they will be able to deliver not only to the Egyptian people, but we can have a relationship with Egypt, with the Muslim Brotherhood as a strong political voice," he said.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders talk of relations on an equal footing with the United States and the rest of the world.
While saying it will respect Egypt's international obligations, including the peace deal with Israel, the group has said Cairo could review the treaty if Washington were to hold back the aid that came with the agreement.
"We don't owe anyone any favors," said Hishmat, the lawmaker on the foreign relations committee. "Even with the threat to the U.S. aid, we are not intimidated in the way the previous regime used to be," he said.
Mubarak's foreign policy ultimately had one goal: keeping him in power rather than advancing Egypt's interests, he said.
Hishmat's political CV bears witness to the struggle the Brotherhood faced trying to enter public life under Mubarak. Running for parliament in 2005, Hishmat lost to a Mubarak loyalist in a vote that was declared rigged against him.
Over coffee at a Cairo hotel, the 55-year-old doctor and university lecturer smiled as he reflected on the irony that the Mubarak loyalist in question was Mustafa el-Feki - the former head of the foreign affairs committee.
One of a series of Brotherhood leaders interviewed by Reuters, Hishmat recalled how Fathi Sorour, the former speaker of parliament, had once rebuked him for questioning why Egypt could not follow the U.S. example by giving lawmakers a say over foreign affairs. Foreign policy was the realm of the presidency and the presidency alone, Sorour snapped at him.
"He said frankly: 'Whoever thinks the Foreign Ministry shapes foreign policy is wrong. It is the presidency that shapes it. The Foreign Ministry is only the implementer,'" Hishmat said. "We want to change this approach."
In discussions on Syria, the Foreign Ministry had at first been hesitant to change tack, citing concerns over the well-being of Egyptians living in Syria and a fear that Cairo would lose any ability to wield any influence over Damascus.
But they changed their mind, Hishmat said, adding that ministers in the government seemed afraid to take decisions. "In this government, most of the hands are trembling," he said. "They sense that if they have a job today, they won't tomorrow."
The current government, led by Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri, is the third since the eruption of the uprising against Mubarak. It is due to stay in office until the military council hands power to the new president.
With the weakness of an already frail economy weighing on the Brotherhood's mind, the group on February 20 voiced its strongest criticism yet of the Ganzouri government.
"Egypt is suffering from escalating economic and security crises which confirm the failure of the government," the FJP said in a wide-ranging statement on domestic and foreign policy issues. "It has become clear that there is a desire to export (pass on) more crises to any future government."
ALCOHOL AND BIKINIS
In its public discourse, the Brotherhood lists its main concerns as the economy and social justice, typically downplaying the concerns of those Egyptians who fear it aims to implement a conservative Islamist agenda down the road.
A fifth of Egyptians live under the poverty line and Brotherhood officials know their political fortunes will hinge on whether they can improve the lot of ordinary people.
Seeking to understand Brotherhood thinking on the economy, everyone from investment bankers to the ruling military council have met the group in the last few months.
Badie, the Brotherhood leader, told Reuters in a February 8 interview he had despatched three of the group's top economists to offer advice to the military council, which he said had requested a meeting with him to discuss the economy.
