Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Saturday congratulated the Islamist Ennahda party for its victory in Tunisia's first free elections and hoped bilateral ties would soon be established.

"We congratulate Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia's Ennahda party, and wish success for the Tunisian nation," Salehi said at a news conference in Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Salehi also hoped that Tehran and Tunis would "soon begin visits" of their officials, the report said.

Nine months after the ouster of dictator ousted dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisians on Sunday voted for a constituent assembly which will be tasked with writing a new constitution and charting the country's post-revolution future.

The once-banned Ennahda party took 90 of 217 seats, 41.47 percent, in the new assembly that will rewrite the constitution and appoint a president and caretaker government.