'They want to hit where it hurts': Here's why Iran could want to attack foreign tankers

"Iran has probably arrived at the conclusion that it has less to lose from acting this way than from doing nothing," Aniseh Tabrizi, a research fellow and Iran expert at London's Royal United Services Institute, told CNBC via phone Tuesday. "There is a gamble behind it that wasn't there before, which is: 'If other countries retaliate, we are willing to take the risk because we have really nothing to lose at this point'," Tabrizi described. "And that is a dangerous way to feel."