Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday the ban on Iran's Al-Alam satellite TV channel by the Arabsat and Nilesat was illegal, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"Based on contracts already signed with the two satellites, the ban was an improper move which could be sued," Mottaki was quoted as saying, Xinhua reported.
He hoped officials of the Arabsat and Nilesat reconsider their decision, the report said.
Last Tuesday, the Arabsat and Nilesat, Egyptian and Saudi satellite broadcasters, stopped broadcasting Iran's Arabic-language television channel Al-Alam.
Al-Alam's website accused the broadcasters of ceasing the transmission for "political reasons," saying that the move is in violation of contracts with the two satellite companies.
The website stressed that the channel has broadcast news in a balanced and impartial manner, avoiding stirring religious and ethnic strife among Muslims.
Egypt's state news agency MENA has attributed the move to an unspecified contractual breach.
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