AP Photo

The collapse of the rial in Iran's foreign currency exchange in early October was a tipping point -- not so much for Iran's economy as for Tehran officials' efforts to deny that sanctions do harm. In a rare moment of agreement, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and analysts in Washington blamed the rial's collapse on Western sanctions, even as most of the president's political opponents in Tehran insisted that his handling of the economy -- not sanctions -- was responsible for the economic mess.