Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast has confirmed the invitation, describing Morsi as a principal guest of the the event.
The Mehr News Agency correspondent has learnt that Mojtaba Hashemi-Samareh, the senior advisor to Ahmadinejad, will visit Cairo to deliver Ahmadinejad’s invitation letter to Morsi. Egypt currently holds NAM presidency. It will hand over the presidency of the body to Iran for a period of three years. As of 2012, the movement had 120 members and 21 observer countries. Relations between Egypt and Iran were strained since they severed diplomatic ties in 1980 following Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. President Anwar Al-Sadat - a strong ally of the ousted monarch Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi - severely attacked the Islamic revolution. Only a few months after Egypt's 2011 uprising, the first Iranian envoy to Cairo in over 30 years was appointed. Months before that, Egypt had allowed two Iranian naval vessels pass through the Suez Canal, also a first-time event in 30 years.
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