TEHRAN:: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, lauded the country's negotiating team for standing firm against "excessive demands" during discussions to save the 2015 nuclear deal.

"Negotiations are progressing well," Khamenei was quoted as saying on his official website on Tuesday, report said.  Iranian negotiators will continue to resist such demands, according to the Iranian leader.

Regardless of the outcome of the Vienna discussions, which have been ongoing since last year between Iran and other key signatory parties to the 2015 pact, technically known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Khamenei instructed President Ebrahim Raisi's cabinet to deal with the country's challenges (JCPOA).

In May 2018, former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the agreement and reimposed sanctions on Iran, causing the latter to back out of some of its nuclear commitments.

Eight rounds of discussions between Iran and the other JCPOA countries, including the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia, and Germany, have been held in the Austrian capital of Vienna since April 2021 in order to revive the pact. Indirectly, the United States has been involved in the negotiations.

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