<span style="color: #222222;">Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has suggested that the Islamic Republic could hold a referendum over the country's nuclear program amid the unraveling deal with world powers and heightened tensions with the United States.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">According to the official IRNA news agency, President Rouhani, who was last week publicly chastised by the country's supreme leader, made the suggestion in a meeting with editors of major Iranian news outlets last evening.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Rouhani said he had previously suggested a referendum to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2004, when he was a senior nuclear negotiator for Iran. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">At the time, Khamenei approved of the idea and though there was no referendum, such a vote can be a solution at any time, he added.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">A referendum could provide political cover for the Iranian government if it chooses to increase its enrichment of uranium, prohibited under the 2015 deal with world powers.</span><br />