Egypt’s news agency says an Iranian diplomat detained in Cairo on allegations of spying has left the country.
Egyptian authorities say Qassem Hosseini was detained on Saturday and questioned about “passing information” to Iran’s intelligence services.
There also are reports the diplomat was trying to set up spy rings in Egypt and Gulf Arab countries.
Egyptian media said Hosseini has diplomatic immunity and was released Sunday. He left Cairo Monday on an Emirates airline flight to Dubai.
Iranian officials at first denied that Hosseini had been arrested. They said on Sunday that he was at work in Iran’s Cairo mission.
Iran severed diplomatic ties with Egypt after Cairo signed the 1978 Camp David Accords with Israel and offered asylum to Iran’s deposed shah. Instead of embassies, each country has a lower-level mission in the other’s capital.
