TEHRAN - Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman will visit Iran later this month, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told reporters on Monday.

"On Azar 4, Michel Sleiman is due to make a trip to Iran," Ghashghavi said, referring to November 24 on the Iranian calendar but without giving further details about the visit. In Beirut the presidency confirmed that the visit will take place on November 24 and 25. Iran hailed Sleiman's election in May after supporting Qatari mediation to end Lebanon's long-running political crisis in choosing a new president.

Political disputes in Lebanon had left the country without a head of state since former president Emile Lahoud's term ended in late November 2007. Shiite-majority Iran is a staunch supporter of Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement; although it denies Western and Israeli charges that it provides military backing to the militant group.