Geopolitics

I don't know and that is a great pertinent question.

I think that what is missed in a lot of western coverage is how devastated Iran really has been by this bombing campaign, and there were serious issues like water access plaguing Iran before this (that by the way you can see a mirror of in the arid west of the US and the Colorado River in many ways and in the way Mexico City's water/agricultural resources were mismanaged by colonial interests and damaged because of it).

So.. I think Iran genuinely does desperately need a deal here I just don't at all subscribe to the idea that this will mean Iran will fold if what it is being asked of in their capitulation under whatever peace/ceasefire terms are established is fundamentally unreasonable from Iran's perspective.

Bombing people does not exert power, it can destroy military targets and living communities, but it cannot fabricate political power out of thin air. This has been proven exhaustively.

I guess my answer is I think Iran is desperate, materially so much awful damage has been done to the region with no legal basis nor any real rationale backed up by hard data, so they still are likely to try to get a deal even if they think the chances are remote. The consequences could not be greater for everybody involved, Iran most especially.

Edit Also I think to be taken seriously internationally Iran has to very carefully keep showing up to these kinds of things when it isn't too insufferably humiliating to do so, otherwise the narrative will shift decisively against them because of bias tendencies that are very durable in most news coverage.