The Washington Post reports today that, “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government, already faced with growing opposition from competing political forces within Iran, is confronting new pressure brought on by severe economic problems, including some triggered by international sanctions. The sanctions, intended to push the country to abandon its nuclear program, are not yet crippling the Islamic Republic, economists and analysts say. But they are causing prices to rise and making it increasingly difficult for Iranian companies to work internationally….Steel prices have already increased by nearly 50 percent in the past two months because of the sanctions. In the first sign that Iranians are becoming nervous about the currency, some businessmen are starting to send cash abroad. ‘People are traveling outside with their pockets stuffed with hundreds of thousands of dollars,’ the steel trader said. ‘We feel the government is intentionally trying to break our backs.'”