TEHRAN, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered the country's foreign ministry to take necessary measures to resume and develop diplomatic relations with Egypt.
Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi made the remarks when answering a question from reporters about the likelihood of resuming the ties at a weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.
A day earlier, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said his country welcomes the resumption of bilateral relations with Egypt and has no problem in this regard, according to his official website.
He made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, who visited Cairo earlier in the month and extended Egypt's "willingness" to resume ties with Iran.
Iran and Egypt severed diplomatic relations in 1980. In recent years, Iran has announced readiness to mend ties with Egypt by settling differences on certain issues.
In March, Iran reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia on the normalization of bilateral ties as part of its efforts to improve relations with regional Arab states. ■
