IRNA � In an age of rising violence and hatred in the world, the civilizations should take a big role in making the countries closer to each other and establishing peace and security in the world, Iran's foreign minister said.

Speaking at the Ancient Civilizations Forum in New York on Thursday evening, Mohammad-Javad Zarif said that some people, whose countries' histories are very short compared to the ancient civilizations, assume that they can survive only by having enemies and demonizing other countries.

He made an implicit reference to the US and its President Donald Trump.

The forum which was attended by foreign ministers from a number of other countries was held upon an initiative of Bolivia.

Ibrahim al-Jafari, Iraq's Foreign Minister at the forum spoke on the importance of the coexistence among different ethnic groups.

'The real art is to manage the differences,' he said.

Iraq is the juncture of various civilizations, and the terrorist group of Daesh (ISIS) was trying to ruin the entire Iraqi civilization, Jafari said, emphasizing that Iraqi people should resist the terrorists.