TEHRAN - In a time when the noise of division grows louder — fueled by wars, conflicts, inequality, and fear — friendship feels almost radical in its simplicity. It doesn’t arrive with fanfare or policy; it doesn’t need speeches or signatures. It begins with something quieter: a conversation, a shared moment, a willingness to see one another not as strangers but as fellow travelers through the human experience.

July 30 was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2011 as the International Day of Friendship, with the idea that friendship between people, countries, cultures, and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities.

In this year’s observance of the International Day of Friendship, we’re reminded that real peace is forged not only in negotiation halls or by writing into treaties — it’s built, thread by thread, in the trust we extend to one another in daily life.

Friendship, especially among young people, holds a special kind of power. It can cross languages, faiths, and histories that might otherwise divide us. It invites us to listen before we judge, to stay when it's easier to walk away. And when nurtured across cultures and communities, friendship becomes more than a bond—it becomes a blueprint for reconciliation. It teaches us that understanding isn’t a grand achievement; it’s a habit, a practice, a way of moving through the world that says 'your well-being matters to me too'.

This year, as the world faces profound ruptures — between nations, within societies, even within families — the call to friendship is not sentimental. It’s essential. It’s about reaching across what breaks us and daring to believe in something better. It is a call to imagine a future where difference doesn’t mean distance, where trust is stronger than fear. Through friendship, we don’t just cope with the world as it is — we begin to shape the world as it could be.

The resolution places emphasis on involving young people, as future leaders, in community activities that include different cultures and promote international understanding and respect for diversity.

To mark the International Day of Friendship, the UN encourages governments, international organizations, and civil society groups to hold events, activities, and initiatives that contribute to the efforts of the international community towards promoting a dialogue among civilizations, solidarity, mutual understanding, and reconciliation.

The International Day of Friendship is an initiative that follows the proposal made by UNESCO, defining the Culture of Peace as a set of values, attitudes, and behaviors that reject violence and endeavor to prevent conflicts by addressing their root causes with a view to solving problems. It was then adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1997.