Iran ’s new government, pressing for relief from oil sanctions that have squeezed as much as $5 billion from its monthly export revenue, enters nuclear talks today with limited economic leverage. Since the U.S. and European Union imposed sanctions on purchasers of Iranian oil in July 2012, higher production in the U.S. and Iraq and flat demand in Europe have more than offset the loss in world markets of more than 1 million barrels a day in Iranian exports. As U.S. consumers pay $3.23 a gallon for gasoline, almost a dime less than at the start of July 2012, Iran’s economy will contract 1.5 percent this year after shrinking 1.9 percent in 2012, according to International Monetary Fund estimates. “Right now, Iran needs to sell its oil far more than the rest of the world needs to buy it,” Trevor Houser , a partner at the Rhodium Group LLC, […]