Iran is set to resume talks with the United States, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and China this week with a goal of getting the sanctions that have crippled its economy since 2012 lifted. Another session, another looming deadline – one can’t help but feel a little déjà vu as these ‘six-month talks’ drag into their tenth month with no end in sight. The current deadline is November 24, though there are already whispers of another extension, which is a far more likely outcome than an admission that the landmark talks have failed.

Some will put this lack of progress down to Iranian subterfuge, a desire to drag out talks and ‘trick’ the international community that was there from the beginning. The stark differences between Iran’s original negotiating stance and its current one would seem to support this stance.

But in reality, the reason is far simpler: Tehran is far less isolated now than it was when the talks began, and its negotiating position has evolved to reflect this.