Roundup: Iran marks Jerusalem Day, urges West to stop excessive demands for nuclear deal

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians held nationwide rallies on Friday to mark Al-Quds, or Jerusalem Day, in support of the Palestinians, as Iranian officials urged the West to stop excessive demands for a nuclear deal.

The ralliers chanted anti-Israel slogans and carried banners, denouncing what they called "war crimes" against Palestinians in Gaza and in the occupied territories.

The participants in the rallies also urged the Iranian nuclear negotiators in the talks with the powers to observe the red lines of the country drawn by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

They asked the Iranian negotiators not to give in to the pressures and excessive demands by the "unreliable enemy" in the ongoing talks.

In the capital Tehran, a number of Iranian government officials, military commanders and lawmakers, also joined the rally and reiterated the Islamic republic's solidarity with the Palestinians in "their strive to achieve their rights."

Al-Quds Day is an annual event that began in Iran in 1979 and is observed on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Iran and several Muslim countries.

On Friday, Iran's First Vice President Eshaq Jahanghiri who attended the rallies in Tehran drew on ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers, saying that the United States and its allies should stop their excessive demands in the talks for a comprehensive deal over the country's disputed nuclear program.

"If the West retreats from its excessive demands, we can reach a good agreement," Jahanghiri said.

"Ongoing talks in Vienna are complicated and difficult... and as the negotiations near the last hours of the deadline, they become even more difficult," he said.

In an address to the ralliers in Tehran, Iran's Majlis (Parliament) Speaher Ali Larijani said that Iranians have never trusted the "deception of the Americans" in the talks, but at the same time they have not left the negotiation table.

Larijani's comments were an allusion to the remarks by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday night when he said that talks with Iran are not open-ended and the U.S. is prepared to call an end to the process of talks if needed.

"If you create a deadlock in the negotiations, you will make a strategic mistake of the outcome which will not be in your interest," Larijani said. If the talks fail, the Iranians are ready to speed up their nuclear program, he warned.

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif blamed the western side for "hindering" progress in the talks.

Certain parties have changed their stances from the earlier agreements and have posed new demands, he said.

"Unfortunately, we are witnessing both shifts in the positions and excessive demands, and we are also witnessing that a number of countries in the P5+1 group have different stances, and this has made the situation even difficult," Zarif was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

Zarif reiterated that the West should choose between exerting pressures on Iran or making political decision for an agreement, since these double strategies cannot be collected.

Iran's foreign minister said that talks have made some progress, but the important differences still persist. It is unlikely for the talks to conclude on Friday and they possibly will continue during the weekend.

Talks between Iran and five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany have extended into a second overtime by Friday after missing the deadlines of June 30 and July 7. Endit