(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-28 19:20

TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday that Iran was on the verge of normalizing diplomatic relations with Egypt after the ties have been cut for almost three decades.

"We are on the verge of resuming official political ties with Egypt," Mottaki said at a news conference in Tehran. "Currently my representative is in Egypt and he has taken my special message to my counterpart."

"Iran and Egypt's relationship is going ahead in a natural way, " Mottaki said, without specifying when the ties would be resumed.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said that Iran was ready to reopen its embassy in Egypt in a bid to thaw the two countries' frozen relations.

Iran and Egypt currently only have interest sections in each other country after Iran cut the ties in 1980 in protest against Egypt's recognition of Israel.

Tehran was also furious after Egypt granted asylum to the last Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was dethroned in the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution. The shah was interred in a mausoleum in the Al-Rifa'i mosque in Cairo.