Friendship with neighbors, Iran's strategic option: FM

'Iran's policy of friendship with neighbors is not a dramatic action but is its strategic option,' Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an article published in the Turkish Yeni Safak newspaper on Monday.

He referred to the commonalities among peoples of the Middle East and noted that the countries in the region should resolve their disputes at the negotiations table instead of the battlefield.

Zarif also called for collective security in the region based on principles of good neighborliness and the UN documents which he said encourage promoting peaceful settlement of conflicts, mutual respect and understanding, and international cooperation.

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