"Dialogue is not a question of choice, but a moral and human duty. Violence does not know conversation, which is why we must work, with the utmost dedication, on encouraging dialogue among different peoples and civilisations," Khatami, the first Iranian president to visit Croatia, said at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
"If someone considers themselves the axis of the world and views their convictions as the absolute truth, it is obvious that they will whip others into line. This kind of amoral self-sufficiency cannot result in anything but war, violence and disaster," said Khatami.
He said the 1990s had been difficult for Croatia and its neighbours, and that the "frightening war" would be felt for years to come.
"The criminal may be forgiven, but the crime never," Khatami said, adding that crime was moved, besides by the weakness and baseness of the perpetrators, also by the transformation of the masses.
Earlier today, Khatami held talks with his Croatian host and counterpart Stjepan Mesic.
The Iranian president wraps up his Croatian visit on Tuesday, when is is scheduled to meet representatives of the Islamic community in Croatia and members of the Croatian Parliament's Croatian-Iranian Friendship Group.