IRNA quoted Rouhani as telling visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai: "We believe that all foreign forces should leave the region and that the security of Afghanistan should be handed over to people of the country."
"We are concerned about tensions caused by foreign forces' presence in the region," Rouhani was quoted as saying. He also called for more cooperation between Tehran and Kabul. Karzai left Tehran soon after meeting Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
The United States is pressing Karzai to sign the deal to extend its military presence past 2014, when NATO and United Nations mandates expire and all foreign troops leave the country.
Rouhani also said Iran opposes any foreign forces in the region, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, where the US Navy's Fifth Fleet has a base in the tiny kingdom of Bahrain.
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Earlier yesterday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel laid out steps to beef up defense cooperation between states within the Gulf region, while at the same time insisting that America's military commitment to the Middle East will continue.
Iran's Defense Minister Gen. Hosein Dehghan called the remarks by his American counterpart "threatening," today, adding that they pave the ground for mistrust toward the US while revealing the influence of Israel Iran's arch enemy on Washington.
Iran believes that countries of the Gulf are capable of managing security through regional security pacts.
Iran signed an interim agreement over its nuclear plan with world powers last month. Rouhani has been trying to convince skeptics and hard-liners at home that the move was not compromising on key issues of national sovereignty.