President Hasan Rowhani said Tuesday that Iran was ready for "serious" talks on its nuclear program without delay and that U.S. calls for tougher sanctions showed a lack of understanding.

Addressing his first news conference since taking office on Saturday, Rowhani said that he would not surrender Iran's rights but that he wanted to allay Western concerns.

EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton, who leads talks with Tehran on its disputed nuclear program, on Tuesday called on Iran's new president to agree a fresh round of negotiations as soon as possible.

Ashton in a letter offered her congratulations on President Hasan Rowhani's inauguration and said he had won "a strong mandate to engage in dialogue and cooperation with the international community to seek a swift resolution to its serious concerns about Iran's nuclear activities.

Seventy-six U.S. senators have urged President Barack Obama to impose tougher sanctions on Iran, saying Washington must stress its military option even as new President Hasan Rowhani urges dialogue.

"Mr. President, we urge you to bring a renewed sense of urgency to the process," said the letter, publicized Monday by authors Robert Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

Iran's supreme leader on Monday appointed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Expediency Council, the country's top political arbitration body headed by an avid critic of the outgoing president.

In announcing the appointment, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Ahmadinejad's "worthy efforts" as president.

The European Union urged Iran's new president Monday to make "rapid progress" towards resolving concerns over the country's disputed nuclear program after he struck an apparently more conciliatory stance.

The West is hoping that President Hassan Rowhani will take a more constructive approach in the long-running talks on Tehran's nuclear drive, which despite Iranian denials is suspected by world powers of having military objectives.

President Hassan Rowhani's cabinet lineup drew a mixed response from Iran's press Monday, with moderate and reformists papers hailing the team's breadth of experience while conservative outlets questioned the inclusion of "notorious" figures.

The male-only cabinet unveiled late on Sunday by the new president features experienced figures from across Iran's complex political spectrum.

Cyprus's former Defense Minister, Costas Papacostas, was sentenced to five years in jail on Friday in connection with a munitions dump blast at a naval base that killed 13 people.

The ailing 73-year-old was not in court for the sentencing, as he was taken ill after his conviction last month and has been in hospital since then.

Iran held massive anti-Israel rallies Friday, with president-elect Hassan Rowhani calling the arch-foe Jewish state a "wound" on the Muslim world, drawing a sharp response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"In our region, a wound has for many years been sitting on the body of the Islamic world in the shadow of occupation of the holy land of Palestine and the dear Quds (Jerusalem)," Rowhani said in remarks broadcast on state television.

Iran's outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned arch-foe Israel Friday in one of his last public speeches that a regional storm was brewing that would "uproot" the Jewish state.

"I will inform you with God as my witness, a devastating storm is on the way that will uproot the basis of Zionism," Ahmadinejad said in Quds (Jerusalem) Day remarks broadcast on state television.

Israel on Thursday charged an ultra-Orthodox Jew with spying for Iran, the Jewish state's internal security service said.

The man belonged to Neturei Karta, an ultra-Orthodox group opposed to the existence of the state of Israel, and he is suspected by Shin Bet internal security of having contacted Iran's embassy in Berlin in 2011 to offer intelligence.