Iran, Tehran, 4 August / Trend corr. R.Azadbakhsh, T.Jafarov/ According to experts, expiration of the period given by the West to Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program and official Tehran's positive response to the demand will result in new economic sanctions on the country. "Europe wants the U.N. Security Council to adopt tougher economic sanctions on Iran," a representative of Iran's Trade Ministry, who preferred his name to be kept anonymous, said to Trend .
AFP news agency reported on 31 July that the Council of Europe (CE) countries were discussing new sanctions to stop Iran's uranium enrichment. A diplomat, whose name is kept anonymous, said to France's news agency that outline agreements were achieved to fulfil U.S. Security Council's Resolution-1803 on Iran and to adopt tougher economic sanctions on the country by CE.
Iranian Trade Ministry's official believes that given the recent statements by several European officials and the sanctions imposed on Iran's National Bank, CE is likely to adopt severe sanctions on Iran's banking system.
"Moreover, the sanctions may cover the oil and gas industry of Iran, sea transportations, check of arrival and departure of air and land-based vehicles, improvement of control of oil and oil products export-import," Iranian official said.
According to the Chairman of France-based Association of Iranian Researchers Hossein Lajvardi, although China and Russia supported U.N. Security Council's Resolution-1803, CE did not fulfil all items of the resolution sanctions since the two countries stick to a loyal position on Iran.
Iran must reply to the West regarding its uranium enrichment program. The meeting of CE representatives on 29 July decided to toughen the CE sanctions on Iran along with the sanctions adopted at the U.S. Congress two weeks ago.
"CE wants to generalize the sanctions envisaged in Resolution-1803 against several companies in order to check arrival and departure of all ships, trains, cars and aircraft coming to and from Iran," Lajvardi said in a telephonic conversation from Paris.
In current circumstances, CE decided to make official the sanctions on Iran and to fulfil them.
As to the sanctions' impact, Iran's official believes the sanctions of this type are not new for Iran. Iran will always have new programs against them.
Furthermore, it will not be so simple to demonstrate unity on adoption and fulfilment of the Iran sanctions. International community's failure to agree on fulfilment of the sanctions, as well as the fact that Russia, China and south-eastern Asian countries oppose the sanctions, may make European countries deteriorate the trade relations and decrease their investments in Iran.
Lajvardi's view on the pressure of the sanctions on Iran's economy is different. He said the Islamic Republic of Iran does not have another way but to come to an agreement with the West. And Iranian officials are well aware of that.
The statement by Iranian religious leader Ali Khamenei on 29 July exactly reflects Iran's nuclear policy. Everybody knows should Iran agree to stop its uranium enrichment program it will lose all profits. Khamenei confirmed should the country step backward it will lose everything.
The West, in particular the United States, suspects the official Tehran intends to produce nuclear weapons. So far, the U.N. Security Council has imposed three economic sanctions on Iran regarding country's nuclear program. Iran has many times rejected the accusations, stating that production of nuclear power has peace targets.
According to Lajvardi, the economic sanctions aroused great intrigues in Iran. The Government apprehends a riot of the discontented people. "In fact, the West got several results from the sanctions imposed on Iran," he said.
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