Meanwhile, in a heavyweight surprise, Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf withdrew on Monday from the presidential race in favor of former Prosecutor General Ebrahim Raisi, who welcomed his decision and considered the step as "revolutionary".
In the absence of credible polling in Iran, it is hard to gauge Raisi's popularity across Iran, particularly given that he has not run for presidency before.
Hamid Aboutalebi, Rouhani's deputy chief of staff, said in a tweet that most of Qalibaf's supporters would now vote for Rouhani as only those two candidates had managerial experience and a solid governing plan. The poll, published last week, shows Rouhani at 42 percent and Raisi with 27 percent, but the poll was conducted before Qalibaf dropped out.
Iranians vote for president on Friday in a contest likely to determine whether Tehran's re-engagement with the world stalls or quickens, although whatever the outcome no change is expected to its revolutionary system of conservative clerical rule.
"There's nothing that. brings out young, liberal voters like a hard-line conservative, which Raisi is", Kupchan said.
From now on, Qalibaf will throw his weight behind Raisi, the senior member added, describing the withdrawal as a "strong coalition" against the incumbent administration.
Despite the lifting of most sanctions under the pact, the remaining U.S. non-nuclear sanctions are still hampering trade deals and banking ties with other countries.
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Raisi's human rights record has troubled many.
But it has struggled to attract the large-scale foreign investments Mr Rouhani promised when the deal came into force, and which he said were necessary to reduce unemployment and kick-start the economy.
A picture taken on April 13, 2017 shows former Iranian minister Mostafa Hashemitaba registering his candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections at the Interior Ministry in the capital Tehran.
Rumors about Khamenei's health have swirled for years, and Raisi's appointment appeared to signal confidence in the younger cleric and that he was being groomed for Iran's most powerful post. "In Tehran, his votes will go mainly to Rouhani but outside Tehran his supporters will vote for Raisi", said political analyst Hamid Farahvashian.
It was the culmination of a series of increasingly aggressive campaign attacks by Rouhani, a 68-year-old moderate cleric, who in recent weeks has lashed out at conservatives over issues from freedom of speech to corruption and wealthy institutions that don't pay tax.
Some experts say Iranian establishment figures may want to keep Rouhani in power to avoid being cast back into isolation.
To boost Rouhani's chances, "Jahangiri now needs to withdraw from the race because he needs all the backing from the reformist camp", said Bassiri Tabrizi at the Royal United Services Institute.
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