I conquered, so cleric negotiated with us, leading to ever-worsening situations (7,7)

I believe the answer is:

vicious circles

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'situations' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.

'i conquered so cleric negotiated with us leading to ever-worsening' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'i' is within the answer.
an anagram of 'cleric' is 'circle' which is located in the answer.
'us' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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