Iran is heading into a new round of nuclear negotiations with the United States and Europe on Tuesday with new-found confidence from President Hassan Rouhani that a settlement "can be achieved" by next month.
Rouhani said in a televised address late Monday that "the world is tired" and wants a resolution to the diplomatic stand-off between Tehran and the West over Iran's uranium enrichment.
U.S. and European Union officials are scheduled to meet with their Iranian counterparts in Vienna on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss Tehran's nuclear activities.
Rouhani's comments mark a positive turn for the Iranian leader, who on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in late September said progress in nuclear talks with Western envoys had been "extremely slow." The president now says he will remain at the negotiating table even if the November 24 settlement deadline passes.
The United States and the P5+1 countries (Britain, China, France, Russia, the United State, plus Germany) are seeking to curb Iran's nuclear enrichment program, which Iran says is peaceful. But the country's diplomatic foes fear that technological advances will allow Tehran to develop nuclear weapons.