Tehran  - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Michel Suleiman on his election as Lebanon's new president, official news agency IRNA reported Monday.

In a phone contact with Suleiman on Sunday night, Ahmadinejad said that Lebanon would move towards stability and reassured the new president that Iran would always stand besides the Lebanese nation.

While appreciating Iran's efforts in resolving the crisis in his country, IRNA quoted Suleiman as saying that any discord in Lebanon would just benefit Israel.

Ahmadinejad also phoned the head of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, and congratulated him on the election of a new president in Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the election of Suleiman was a big victory for Lebanon, ISNA news agency reported earlier Monday.

ISNA quoted Mottaki as saying that following Suleiman's election a new chapter has been opened in the history of Lebanon.

Suleiman took the oath of office as the 12th president on Sunday, filling a post left vacant for six months and ending a political crisis that threatened a new civil war. (dpa)