CAIRO - An Iranian diplomat whom Egypt had been briefly detained and questioned for spying left Cairo on Monday for Tehran on board the same plane carrying an Egyptian public diplomacy delegation seeking a thaw in ties between the two countries. "Qassem Hosseini, the Iranian diplomat expelled for spying, left on Monday to Tehran on board a connecting flight transiting in Dubai," a Cairo Airport official said. Hosseini was accused of spying for Iran with the intention of harming the interests of Egypt, but was released when his diplomatic status was confirmed. He was then ordered to leave the country within 48 hours. Although Egypt and Iran do not have full diplomatic relations, each has a diplomatic mission in the other's capital. In an initial remark over the detention and questioning of Hosseini, Iranian intelligence chief Heydar Moslehi said that the arrest was a misunderstanding and “the Egyptian intelligence was after one of their own men and by mistake arrested the Iranian diplomat”. Moslehi added that Cairo had apologised to Tehran over the incident. Egyptian foreign Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment over Moslehi's remarks. “The Egyptian Government and nation have a consensus about improvement of relations with Iran, but this improvement should be pursued with patience,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told Iranian media on Monday. He did not mention a word on the expulsion of the diplomat, who was briefly arrested by Egypt's Intelligence Service on Saturday. Ties between Egypt and Iran were severed after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and after Cairo made peace with Israel the same year. But they have been improving since a popular uprising toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on February 11. On the same plane to Dubai, an Egyptian public diplomacy team comprising representatives from the Muslim Sunni seat of learning Al-Azhar, political figures as well as academics, paid a rare visit to Tehran yesterday in a bid to restore ties between both countries. Upon arrival, the delegation had a meeting yesterday with Saeed Jalili, the secretary general of Iran's Supreme National Security and Foreign Affairs Council, who emphasised the importance of strengthening cultural and political ties between Egypt and Iran. The condition of Egyptian-Iranian ties was also discussed at the meeting, with revolutionary Egyptian poet Abdel Rahman Youssef questioning why bilateral relations had faltered contrary to the will of both peoples. Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi said in March that Cairo was ready to 'open a new page with Iran' in the post-Mubarak era. That statement was followed by a meeting between him and Salehi this month on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement conference in Indonesia.
