What we have to understand about the Iranian government is that it is not North Korea. It is not Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It is not Nazi Germany. It is a country that is authoritarian, but it's not totalitarian. It's an oxymoron. It's an Islamic republic, as they call it.
It is an authoritarian regime that has a supreme leader who has the ultimate power in terms of military and foreign affairs, but at the same time, the regime was brought to power by a very popular revolution, and it needs people to support it.
On one hand, they have to be in power through any means possible, but on the other hand, they have to seek legitimacy. In that order, if you think about the Iranian narrative from that point of view, the sanctions work in order to put pressure on the Iranian regime, but they do not work if you want to change the regime with the sanctions. You can change certain things within the regime through the sanctions, but you cannot change the regime through the sanctions.
Ultimately, when you also look at the Iranian historical narrative, the Iranians are very resentful of foreign interference because Iran has been at the crossroads of different cultures. It's been invaded since Alexander the Great invaded Persia and burned down Persepolis. Then the Arabs invaded Iran, then the Mongols, then the allied forces.
Iranians are really resentful of any kind of foreign pressure, but at the same time, young Iranians would like to be in touch with the rest of the world. It's a very delicate balance: how much pressure should you put on the Iranian government and where?