MANILA -- Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople has been invited to attend a plenary meeting of his Islamic counterparts in Iran next week, an official said Wednesday.

The invitation was forwarded to Ople's office by Iranian envoy to Manila Gholamreza Youssefi, who said Iran wanted Ople to be a "guest" of the conference from May 28 to 31 in Tehran.

"We have just submitted to the DFA (Foreign Ministry) the invitation from our foreign minister," Yousefi told reporters.

This would be the first time a Philippine foreign minister would attend a plenary session of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

A diplomatic source said Ople was expected to press the Philippines' bid for observer status in the powerful 57-nation pan-Islamic body, a position held currently by the former Muslim separatist group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The OIC helped broker a peace deal between Manila and the MNLF in 1995, with the rebels dropping their independence bid to settle for a limited self-rule.

Sources said, however, that the Philippines may have a hard time convincing the OIC to grant its request since certain economic provisions of the peace pact have not been fully implemented, AFP reported.