TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – An Iranian presidential candidate said Sunday the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers has failed to lift sanctions or improve the country’s economy.
Mostafa Mirsalim, a conservative, told a news conference that President Hassan Rouhani’s outreach to the West had failed, adding that “sanctions remained in place and were even intensified.”
Under the nuclear deal, international sanctions were lifted in exchange for Iran curbing its uranium enrichment, but separate U.S. sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program have been tightened.
Mirsalim said that, if elected, he would abide by the nuclear deal. But he said U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had already undermined the agreement, without elaborating.
Last week, the State Department certified that Iran was complying with the nuclear deal, but Trump, a longtime critic of the agreement, said Tehran was violating the spirit of the accord and that the U.S. might withdraw from it.