Former US president George W. Bush said the administration of President Brack Obama should not lift sanctions imposed against Iran following a possible final deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

Former US president George W. Bush said the administration of President Brack Obama should not lift sanctions imposed against Iran following a possible final deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

The ex-president sharply criticized Obama’s foreign policy in a closed-door meeting with hundreds of Jewish donors in Las Vegas on Saturday night, the New York Times reported.

Bush also expressed “skepticism about the Obama administration’s pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran,” according to the Times.

He suggested that it was not wise to lift sanctions against Iran and said that Washington “risked losing leverage if it did so.”

Bush warned that a possible nuclear deal would be bad for American national security in the long term.

The US and its negotiating partners reached a framework nuclear agreement with Iran in Switzerland on April 2.

Tehran and the P5+1 group – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – are currently working to draw up a final accord by the end of June.

Among the key points of nuclear negotiations is the lifting of all sanctions once a final deal is reached on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities.

The Obama administration says the sanctions could be phased out. However, the Iranian government stresses that all sanctions have to be lifted as soon as a possible final deal comes into force.