Iran asserting its own demands in Vienna nuclear talks

The 8th round of nuclear talks which take place in Vienna, Austria, now have been extended, despite threats by European parties to withdraw in case a deal was not signed on Monday.

The talks should have come to an end on March 1.

The US also said that it was ready to pull out of the talks if a deal was not concluded.

Department of State Spokesman, Edward Price, said his country would withdraw its representatives at the talks also if Iran keeps acting stubbornly and impedes the progress of the talks.

The failure of the talks to reach a deal coincides with Russian military operations in Ukraine, which casts a grim shadow over the international stage.

This comes amid expectations that the Ukrainian crisis would affect the talks over Iran's nuclear program in Vienna.

Some people expect the crisis to speed up the negotiations and consequently open the door for a settlement.

Other people, however, expect the same crisis to cause the negotiations to fail.

Speedy settlement

Tehran is apparently heading for more militancy.

This was manifested in recent remarks Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, who revealed that almost 98% of the draft agreement on his country nuclear program had already been written.

Nonetheless, he referred to some of the thorny issues in the talks, including his country's demand for lifting the economic sanctions imposed on it.

He added that Iran also wants the US to give it guarantees as far as Tehran's peaceful nuclear activities are concerned.

Iran, he said, also has other demands.

However, Khatibzadeh did not mention the nature of these demands.

Instead, he said, there is unanimity inside Iran on the legitimacy of these demands.

"This means that there is no room for overlooking these demands," the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.