The Russian president made the comments in an address to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on Friday.

Putin also welcomed Iran’s readiness to hold new round of talks with the six major world powers (P5+1) to resolve the West’s nuclear standoff over its atomic drive.

Iran and the P5+1 group - Russia, China, Britain, France, the US and Germany -- have held several rounds of talks on a range of issues, with the main focus being on Iran’s nuclear energy program.

The two sides wrapped up their latest round of negotiations on April 6 in the Kazakh city of Almaty. An earlier meeting had been held in Almaty on February 26-27.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies falsely claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and the European Union using the groundless allegation as a pretext to impose illegal sanctions on Iran.

Tehran strongly rejects the claim, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

During the course of numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities by the IAEA, no evidence has ever been found showing that the Iranian nuclear energy program has been diverted toward non-civilian purposes.

President Putin and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani are scheduled to hold talks later on Friday on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

RA/BA