Jaber Khadivi, 41, Iranian engineer

I do seriously follow the US presidential race, and the most important reason for me is the fate of the nuclear deal. I am very concerned to see what fate this hard-won deal will have. This issue is getting increasingly important, and there is much at stake with the Republican firebrand, the controversial candidate Trump, who is a populist. If he wins the race to the White House, not only will the nuclear deal blow up – world peace and security will be gravely threatened.

I watched the debates, and I am sorry to say that it was a disgrace for democracy – and to me and many Iranians, those debates were reminiscent of a particular person, [former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad].

Under the Democrats, crippling sanctions were imposed on us, but this time I would rather see a Democratic candidate – Hillary – win the race, rather than a populist, trigger-happy Trump. Besides, there is a better chance of following Obama’s policies under Hillary, though she may take a tough stand towards Iran.

The effect of US policies on the Iranian economy has been more tangible in the past 10 years or so … US sanctions, along with mismanagement under Ahmadinejad, inflicted serious blows to the economy, like the free-fall of our currency and horrible inflation that I hope never happens again.

In short, I can say given the internal problems with our economy, adopting such a confrontational approach or having a hardline US president in office can exacerbate the economic situation here.

READ MORE: A tale of two elections – Iran versus the US

*As told to Omid Khazani