Nearly three years after Iran’s reform-minded president was elected, the most reactionary voices in Iranian politics are losing ground to moderates buoyed by the sweeping nuclear deal with big powers including the United States.

Though hard-liners still control the most powerful positions and institutions of the state, two national elections last week appeared to build on the slow but unmistakable evolution toward a more moderate political landscape — now and into the future.

Allies of President Hassan Rouhani made strong gains in parliamentary elections, controlling the entire 30-seat delegation representing the capital, Tehran, and carving out an influential minority bloc. At the same time, the two most radical clerics were ousted from the Assembly of Experts, a panel with the constitutional duty to select the nation’s next supreme leader, should that position become vacant.

The voting was seen as a referendum of sorts on the nuclear deal, and virtually every prominent critic of the pact was defeated.