CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s likely next president, retired military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, says ties with the United States will improve after elections next week, confident that a strong show of public support will prove to the Americans that Egyptians wanted his ouster of the country’s elected president, which threw relations between the two allies into their worst strains ever.

But it will likely be a troubled road toward warming the chill between Cairo and Washington. Egypt’s security forces have waged a fierce crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist backers of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. Asked in a recent TV interview about possible political reconciliation with the Islamist group — a goal Washington has advocated — el-Sissi barked, “No.”