Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program did not meet their July deadline. Yet, in a sign that the failure is not terminal, talks were extended for four more months. By all indications, an agreement is not imminent. The readiness to persevere, however, suggests that optimism is not misplaced. There has been tangible progress.
The biggest question, however, is how developments elsewhere will affect the negotiations.
Iran and six other governments — the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) and Germany; usually referred to as "the P5-plus-1" — have been meeting since last November in an effort to reach an agreement on Tehran's nuclear program. A lack of transparency about that program and the steady drip of revelations has fueled fears that Tehran seeks a nuclear weapons capability.