No matter who wins Iran's election, much may hinge on the 'Great Satan' US

In the waning moments of Iran's final televised presidential debate, one of the top candidates to replace the late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi invoked the name of the one person who perhaps has done more than anyone to change the trajectory of the Islamic Republic's relationship with the wider world in recent years.

The next president could be "forced to either sell Iran to Trump or spark a dangerous tension in the country if economic problems aren't solved, warned Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker and a candidate in Friday's election.

President Donald Trump's decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw America from the Iran nuclear deal saw crushing sanctions reimposed and largely cut Tehran out of the world's economy.

That worsened the political climate within Iran, already beset by mass protests over economic problems and women's rights. An escalating series of attacks on land and at sea followed, while Tehran also began enriching uranium at near weapons-grad