Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of "colonialism" for recognising Israeli sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, a border area seized by Israel from Syria in 1967.

"In a point of time when colonialism ruled, some colonialist powers did such things and bestowed parts of one country to another, but this is unprecedented in the present century," Rouhani said, according to the official government website.

"Nobody could have believed that a man would come in America and unilaterally and against all international laws and regulations give away a land belonging to one country to an aggressor," Rouhani said in a meeting with advisors and ministers.

Trump on Monday signed a proclamation recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Syria denounced as a blatant attack on its sovereignty.

US recognition for Israeli control over the territory breaks with decades of international consensus and has been criticised by most Islamic nations, and other countries such as Russia.

The UN Security Council and successive US administrations have always regarded the Golan as occupied territory whose return would be negotiated as part of a comprehensive peace deal between Israel and Syria.