Cairo - Egypt has shut down the Cairo office of an Iranian television channel, saying it was operating without a mandatory broadcasting licence, security sources said Thursday.

The closing of the office of al-Alam channel, which broadcasts in Arabic from Tehran, came weeks after an Iranian documentary film on the assassin of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat was aired in Iran.

An official from al-Alam said the channel had nothing to do with the film, according to the Dubai-based al-Arabiya news broadcaster.

The documentary film, "Assassination of the Pharaoh", glorified Sadat's assassin, portraying him as a martyr who killed a traitor.

In 1981, Sadat was assassinated by a Muslim extremist, Khaled al- Islamboli, during an annual military parade on the anniversary of the last war Egypt fought against Israel in October 1973.

Iran broke its diplomatic ties with Egypt after it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and regarded its late president as a traitor for making peace with the Jewish state. (dpa)