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Iran's President Hassan Rouhani registered Friday to run in the upcoming presidential elections in May.

Associated Press journalists watched as Rouhani, 68, registered on the fourth day of the allocated period which ends on Saturday evening. In 2013, he had registered on the first day.

The upcoming vote will be seen, among other things, as a referendum on the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, under which Iran agreed to curb its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

Running on the platform "More freedom and peace," Rouhani vowed to remain loyal to the 2016 land nuclear deal, and urged all Iranians to vote.

"From now on, protecting the deal is one of the most important economic and political issues," said Rouhani.

He said he would continue his past promise to "salvage the economy" and "engage constructively" with the world. "We do not withdraw," said Rouhani.

Rouhani also mentioned the giant joint gas field, the North Field, Iran will be developing with Qatar.

Earlier on Wednesday former hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his close ally Hamid Baghaei also filed to run for the presidency.

Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has announced plans to run promising to fight poverty and corruption.

Registration will remain open until Saturday, and any Iranian national can apply. The applicants will then be vetted by the Guardian Council, a clerical body that will announce a final list of candidates by April 27. The council normally does not approve dissidents or women.

The nuclear deal was engineered by the Rouhani administration and went into effect in 2016. Iran has since resumed selling oil and signed deals worth billions of dollars to replace its aging commercial airline inventory.

Critics of the deal, however, complain that economic benefits have yet to trickle down to average Iranians.

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Iran's president resisters to run in May elections - ABC News