CAIRO - President Mubarak of Egypt met the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Akbar Velayati, in Cairo yesterday for high-level talks after years of strained relations between the two countries. Mr Mubarak accepted an invitation by President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to attend an Islamic summit in Tehran in December.
The visit was the first by a high-ranking Iranian official since 1994. Iran severed ties with Cairo after Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Relations were further soured by charges that Iran supported Islamic radicals in Egypt and was behind the attempt to kill Mr Mubarak in 1995.