Iran’s threat to increase enrichment beyond the agreed limits of the 2015 nuclear agreement is misguided just in terms of Iranian national interests. But it indicates the growing foreign policy influence of Iran’s hard-liner bloc.

Iran pledged on Monday that, within 10 days, it will cross the threshold of uranium enrichment beyond the 3.67% limit proscribed under its agreement with the Obama administration. One of the better elements of the accord, that 3.67% limit allowed Iran to retain the prestige of developing a civilian nuclear program, and the ability to save face under any deal, without risking the development of nuclear weapons. But with its 3.67% threshold threat and another warning that it may increase enrichment to 20%-plus, Iran is clearly rolling the dice. Twenty percent, after all, is the marker point for highly enriched uranium of the kind necessary to build nuclear weapons.