NEW YORK — Ali Larijani, the powerful speaker of the Iranian parliament, praised President Barack Obama for being “wiser” than his predecessor in negotiating a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear crisis, but warned that if Obama’s successor does not fully implement the deal, Iran won’t either.

Larijani, who in a 2012 conversation with Al-Monitor had seemed indifferent to the outcome of US presidential politics, told Al-Monitor in an interview on Sept. 1 that Obama's victory had made a difference. Even though the toughest economic sanctions against Iran were imposed during Obama’s tenure, Larijani said, “It was very wise of him to finally realize the error of his ways and decide to resolve the issue through political dialogue.”

Asked what would happen if a Republican opposed to the agreement is elected president in 2016, Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and member of an influential political family in Iran, said, “Maybe this can hurt parts of the deal but I don’t think this will be in the interests of the United States. I’m not sure that the other countries involved in the negotiations would like the idea. This will make Iran change its mind and not to be that committed to its obligations.”

No Republican candidate for president has publicly supported the nuclear agreement and several have suggested they would try to scrap it if elected. The Obama administration now appears to have enough votes to prevail in a congressional review of the deal by relying only on Democratic support.