UNITED NATIONS, July 17. /TASS/. Initial statements from Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian give hope that all the Persian Gulf countries will move closer to each other and overcome contradictions and mistrust, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

He was speaking at a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including Palestine, in his capacity as chairman of the UN Security Council.

"I would like to emphasize the potential of Gulf countries. Now, after the special election in Iran and the first statements by the new Iranian president, Pezeshkian, there is hope for rapprochement between all Gulf littoral states in the interests of overcoming long-standing contradictions, mistrust and in the interests of joining efforts on a generally acceptable basis, so that they themselves, without external interference, determine the parameters of mutual security and with one voice seek the implementation of hopes of the Palestinian people, and in general build an architecture of stability and good-neighborliness in the region," Lavrov said.

According to the minister, progress on the Palestinian track in full compliance with UN decisions and in normalizing relations between the Persian Gulf littoral countries would be an important contribution to the objective process of forming a common Eurasian architecture based on the principles of indivisibility, security and equal collective responsibility, mutual respect and balance of interests.