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Squeezed by U.S. Sanctions, Iran Shifts to Confrontation
(Wall Street Journal) Sune Engel Rasmussen - Tighter new U.S. sanctions have proved more punishing than Iran's leaders expected, driving Tehran to hit back militarily and breach limits it had agreed to put on its nuclear program. This increasingly confrontational approach aims to raise the costs to the U.S. of its maximum-pressure campaign and to push Western European nations to offer economic relief, according to former Iranian officials and analysts. On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran would enrich uranium beyond 3.67% - a step that would surpass limits imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal. If Iran breaches the accord further, this is likely to trigger a process that could eventually see international sanctions reimposed on Iran. The European powers have developed a way for companies to conduct transactions with Iranian companies, but it just became operational and is unlikely to help Iran's economy much. Iran has found ways to smuggle oil, often by turning off ship location equipment and making furtive transfers to other ships, but the limits of those efforts were underlined Thursday when Gibraltar stopped an Iranian tanker headed to Syria.