A ceremony was held at the foreign ministry's Institute for Political and International Studies in Tehran on Wednesday to commemorate United Nations Day.
Jan Eliasson, the UN deputy secretary-general, and Abbas Araqchi, the deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, attended the ceremony, the Fars news agency reported.
Foreign ambassadors and representatives of international organizations were also present at the event, in which the message of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the occasion was read out.
The message referred to grave international challenges, such as terrorism, and underlined the necessity for the world's countries to abide by the UN charter.
The UN official also presented a letter of appreciation to Araqchi, as Iran's representative, for the country's close and continuous cooperation with the international body.
United Nations Day (October 24) is devoted to making known to peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations. United Nations Day is part of United Nations Week, which runs from 20 to 26 October.
Nuclear Agreement Beneficial to World
In his speech during the ceremony, the UN official said, "The nuclear talks between Iran and P5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany) are about to be finalized; and we hope it will bear fruitful results, since it will be beneficial to the international community."
Eliasson also stressed the necessity to make efforts to promote international economic, social, political cooperation and said, "Such cooperation will be a great contribution to international peace and security."
He referred to his talks with Iranian officials on Tuesday and said, "The discussions will continue and we will talk on various issues, such as the threat of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group and the growing conflict in Syria."
He said he is trying to explore ways of resolving the crises afflicting the Middle East region.
Discrimination Breeds Violence
In his address, the deputy foreign minister said, "We believe that discrimination, inequality and the implementation of hegemonistic policies in international relations marginalize culture, which will ultimately cause expansion of extremism and violence."
Araqchi described Iran as a victim of war, violence and terrorism and said, "Iran has always longed for a world full of peace, tranquility and development on the basis of human dignity and moderation."
The foreign ministry official reiterated, "From our point of view, dialogue opens a window to peace, rapport and moderation."
Elsewhere, Araqchi said, "The system of the United Nations has been an inseparable part of the efforts made by the international community to achieve peace and development over the past decades."
He touched on the current circumstances in the world and said, "We are still witnessing conflicts, terrorism, military aggression, violation of national sovereignty of countries, extremism and violent actions."
He described poverty, inequality, discrimination, contempt and injustice as "appropriate grounds" in which the evil phenomena can grow and said, "The developing countries are still facing great challenges."
The senior diplomat referred to coercive economic actions and unfair sanctions imposed by some major powers as the factors which aggravate the challenges.
Araqchi added, "In such a situation in the world, the United Nations should be able to be as a major part of the solutions and demonstrate its capabilities to bring about a great development in people's lives all over the world."
Eliasson and Araqchi held a meeting before the ceremony, in which they discussed a range of regional and international issues and the latest developments in nuclear talks between Iran and the major powers, IRNA reported.
Eliasson also met with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the same day.
From 1980 to 1986, Eliasson was part of the UN mission mediating in the Iran-Iraq War.
