TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani, defending the nuclear deal which was negotiated by under his leadership, lashed out at critics for having discouraged the nuclear negotiators on one hand and tried on the other to agitate the other sides out of the deal.

His deputy Es’haq Jahangiri, who has also entered the presidential race, said the opponents used to stage billboards across Tehran that meant to discourage Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his team who were serving the country as soldiers.

SP/PA