Iranian President Hassan Rouhani registered on Friday to run for a second four-year term, REUTERS reports, buoyed by Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers though facing a hardline conservative challenge over his economic record.
“Once again, I am here for Iran, for Islam, for freedom and for more stability in this country. I am urging all Iranians to vote for Iran and for Islam,” Rouhani told reporters.
“From today, protecting the nuclear deal is one of my main plans in political and economic fields,” he said, alluding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s dislike of the pact reached under his predecessor Barack Obama, and also to Iranian hardliners who opposed Rouhani’s pursuit of detente with the West.
He won election by a landslide in 2013 on a platform of ending the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic isolation and creating a freer society. But the oil-based economy’s struggle to rebound since the lifting of sanctions as part of the nuclear accord could be exploited by Rouhani’s hardline foes this time around.
Many Iranians have grown impatient with the slow rate of improvement in their economic fortunes since international financial and trade sanctions were lifted after Iran curbed its disputed nuclear activity under its deal with six world powers. Read more at REUTERS.
{Matzav}
