The three-time Asian Cup winners were threatened with exclusion from next year’s tournament after FIFA announced the suspension of the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation (IRIFF) in November due to political interference in its affairs.

However, FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed on Sunday that the ban was to be lifted after agreement had been reached with the IRIFF, allowing Iran to be included in the draw for the 2007 finals, to be held in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday evening.

On Monday, former Asian Player of the Year Azizi said that the nature of the disagreement was not so great that it would have scuppered the participation of one of the continent’s top football nations in next year’s tournament.

“The people of Iran live with football and they place great value in the game,” said the former Cologne striker, who sent Iran through to the 1998 World Cup with his famous equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Australia.

“For them, it is natural for Iran to participate in the Asian Cup and our presence in the tournament also helps to brings great value to it.

“I really don’t think that the problems that we had with FIFA were too big to have prevented us from competing in this tournament.”

Azizi, the Asian Player of the Year in 1996, will be assisting in the Asian Cup final draw at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, along with former Asian football stars Hidetoshi Nakata of Japan, Fan Zhiyi of China, Kim Joo-sung of Korea Republic and Mohesin Al Jamaan of Saudi Arabia.

The draw on Tuesday evening will see the 16 finalists placed in four groups of four for the 2007 finals, which will take place next July in South East Asia.

In addition to the four co-hosts, the other finalists are Bahrain, China, Iran, Iraq, Korea Republic, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, first-timers Australia and defending champions Japan.

The seedings for the draw are to be announced by the AFC on Tuesday morning.

“This is a good issue and where football has shown its strength on interference and I’m grateful to the political authorities in Iran.

“We are not dealing inside their country but when you participate in international concert then everybody has to abide by FIFA’s statutes. They have to abide either by international rules or they can play on their own.”

The Iranians had been suspended by FIFA following the removal of former football federation president Mohammad Dadkhan after the national side’s elimination from the World Cup in Germany at the group stage during the summer.

A suspension was imposed by the game’s governing body but was temporarily lifted to allow the nation to participate in the Asian Games in Qatar after assurances had been given by the Iranians that the situation would be amended.

The move by FIFA will now allow Iran to aim for a record-breaking fourth Asian Cup title when the finals kick off in South East Asia.