DHAKA: Iran’s President has appeared on television in a bid to shore up support for a deal that lifts sanctions in exchange for nuclear cooperation.

Hassan Rouhani made the broadcast as he battled to head off opposition to the agreement from senior figures in the Iranian regime, reports Sky News.

It came after thousands demonstrated in New York’s Times Square, demanding the agreement between Iran and six world powers, including the US, should be scrapped.

Rouhani asked delegates of a medical conference shown on state TV, ‘How can one be an Iranian and not cheer for our negotiating team?’

He said anyone condemning the accord was failing to recognize that it had come about as a result of his election as president - adding that Iran’s path ‘is a path of moderation’.

The President was speaking in defense of the agreement after the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave a speech on Saturday reiterating that Iran’s policies stood ‘180 degrees’ opposed to those of the US.

As he did so, people in the crowd shouted ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’.

Last week, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards attacked the UN for endorsing the deal and also criticized it for endangering Iran’s security.

The landmark agreement brokered last Tuesday, and approved by the UN’s Security Council on Monday, was widely hailed as a success for Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani.

BDST: 1713 HRS, JULY 23, 2015
RR/