Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi on Monday that Tehran will seek to avoid war amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, while expressing appreciation for Tokyo's diplomatic outreach.

Meeting Zarif for the first time since becoming foreign minister earlier this month, Motegi voiced serious concern about the situation in the region following recent attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

"We are very much concerned about the grave situation," Motegi told Zarif at the outset of the meeting on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Japan will continue to work toward stabilizing the region, he added.