Iran President Hassan Rouhani asserted his Tehran’s right to run a peaceful nuclear program and denounced the "uncivilized" Western sanctions against Tehran, adding Tehran has always respected the int’l law in its nuclear program.

Iran President Hassan Rouhani asserted his country's right to run a peaceful nuclear program and denounced the "uncivilized" Western sanctions against Tehran, adding that Tehran has always respected the international law in its nuclear energy program.

"A majority of the UN member states, including the 120 Non-Aligned movement (NAM) members, have dismissed the sanctions against Iran as illegitimate, illegal and politically- motivated,” Rouhani said, addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on Friday.

“These sanctions are an uncivilized move and a dangerous precedent and aim to disrupt the trend of Iran’s development,” he added.

In the same context, Rouhani called on Russia, after meeting his counterpart Vladimir Putin, to play a more influential role to put an end for the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Putin in turn praised Moscow's long-standing regional ally as a close neighbour in Rouhani's first meeting with a major world leader since he won June elections.

"We know how much in international affairs is revolving around the Iranian nuclear problem, but we in Russia know something else, too: that Iran is our neighbour, a good neighbour," Putin said.

The Iranian nuclear program is a peaceful drive to produce electricity so that the world's fourth-largest crude exporter can sell more of its oil and gas abroad.

Tehran also stresses that the country is pursuing a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.