President Hassan Rouhani called on the world to "join the wave" of a world against violence and extremism and added that Iran "firmly believes" in enduring peace. Ray Stubblebine/Reuters

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani called Tuesday on U.S. President Barack Obama to ignore "warmongering pressure groups," and instead let "equal footing, mutual respect and the recognized principles of international law" govern the U.S.-Iran relationship.



Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly, Rouhani said Iran poses "absolutely no threat to the world" and that “peace is within reach,” in remarks widely monitored for signs of a diplomatic thaw with the United States.

Rouhani spoke a few hours after Obama told the assembly that he wanted a "meaningful agreement" with Iran if it acted to end international concerns over its nuclear program.

The Iranian leader, meanwhile, reaffirmed his country's position that its nuclear drive is "exclusively peaceful."

"Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction have no place in Iran's security and defense doctrine, and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions," Rouhani said.

He added that the international community had to accept Iran's nuclear activity, which many Western nations say hides an attempt to reach a nuclear bomb capacity.

The Iranian president said that he had heard the message loud and clear from "a dominant voice" that a military option to stop Iran's nuclear program is still on the table.

But Rouhani warned that it would be "an illusion, and extremely unrealistic, to presume that the peaceful nature of the nuclear program of Iran could be ensured through impeding the program via illegitimate pressures.”

The U.N. Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment, which Rouhani called "violent, pure and simple."