Iranian presidential candidates Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili rowed over Western sanctions during the final televised debate in Tehran on Tuesday, ahead of Friday's runoff vote to choose a successor to the late Ebrahim Raisi.

Conservative Jalili stressed that the 'enemy' should be made 'regretful of imposing sanctions on us' and called for a future government to make those restrictions 'costly' for the West.

“The answer is to be active against the sanctions, not passive," said the former nuclear negotiator.

Meanwhile, reformist Pezeshkian argued that the 'first step' was about finding an 'understanding' about "whether we want to solve our problems with the world and states".

"If we want to solve it we should sit and check our various options, which preserve our dignity and interest, in the negotiations," he added.

Pezeshkian also said there would be no progress while Iran was in the 'cage in history'.

"If we want to achieve this development, we have no choice but to create dialogue and ties with regional states and then with other states around the world," he said.

However, Jalili said the use of the 'cage' metaphor was 'shameful'.

"Why are you calling our country this, it has many opportunities and ties around the world?" he asked.

The runoff was triggered after no candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes on June 28. In the first round Pezeshkian led with 10.4 million - or around 42 percent - with Jalili close behind on 9.4 million - 39 percent - of the 24.5 million votes cast.

Former president Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others were killed in a helicopter crash in May.