UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for dialogue over the Iran nuclear issue to avoid a catastrophic crisis.

"We believe that it's important that there is a dialogue allowing for an agreement in relation, namely to the nuclear question and that we can avoid a crisis that could have devastating consequences in the region," he said at a start-of-year press conference.

"I think it's absolutely essential that dialogue prevails. I strongly encourage dialogue to take profit of the offers of mediation that have been expressed," said Guterres.

"We do not want to see, and I believe the Iranians tell us that they also do not want to have nuclear weapons, so if that is the case, all the conditions are there for a serious negotiation to take place and I encourage the parties to seriously negotiate in order to avoid a confrontation that would be a tragedy," he said. ■