Nuclear deal an issue in Iran election

IRAN: President Hassan Rouhani has faced accusations that Iran’s nuclear deal has not benefited the Iranian people, during the final televised debate with rivals before the presidential election on Friday.

The vote is being seen as largely a referendum on reformer Rouhani’s interactions with the rest of the world following the accord with global powers, which ended sanctions but bitterly divided the country.

The president is believed to be the frontrunner. But the failure of the 2015 accord to bring economic gains for the public has brought an opening that his main competitors, powerful conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi and hardline Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, have sought to exploit.

In the most heated of three debates, his opponents focused on his inability to deliver the jobs and growth he said would follow the unlocking of billions of dollars’ worth of assets.

‘‘The country is facing an economic crisis, with unemployment, recession and inflation,’’ Qalibaf, a former Republican Guard and police chief, said. ‘‘A tree that has not borne any fruit in four years will not yield anything positive in the future.’’

The economic crisis has been illustrated by pictures of homeless people sleeping in graves outside Tehran, images that shocked the nation and Rouhani.

Rouhani, who is seeking a second four-year term, has promised to normalise relations with the West, more foreign investment and a revival of tourism. But his main rival, Raisi, said the president had bet too strongly on the West and foreign investment.

– Telegraph Group