Iran says Egypt diplomat row 'resolved'

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Egypt's expulsion on Monday of an Iranian diplomat on suspicion of spying was "a misunderstanding that has been resolved," state television's website reported. "This issue was a misunderstanding that has been resolved," Salehi was quoted as saying on Cairo's expulsion of Qasim al-Hosseini. Hosseini was expelled on Monday and flew out on a flight to Dubai, a day after being briefly detained on suspicion of spying, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported. "Forty to 50 Egyptian intellectuals and thinkers who we have invited to Iran are arriving today, and I think that Mr Hosseini is accompanying them," Salehi said. An initial probe found Hosseini had gathered "information about Egypt on the latest developments the country has experienced and the conditions through which it is passing, then sent them to Iran's intelligence services," MENA said. Iran's interests section in Cairo denied Hosseini had been arrested. Tehran severed diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1980 in protest at Cairo's peace treaty with Israel signed a year earlier, and the two states maintain only interests sections in each other's capitals. Relations between the two Muslim states were tense under former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak but they have signalled plans to mend ties in the wake of the revolt.