Azerbaijan, Baku, July 9 /Trend S.Isayev/
With the sanction regime in place Iran is already seeing its oil production and exports dropping, Senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, James M. Dorsey told Trend.
"With that happening, Iran will not be able to achieve a desired 8 percent GDP growth without finding a solution to the nuclear issue that involves a lifting of sanctions," Dorsey said.
Iran claimed it needed approximately $400 billion of foreign investments to reach 8 percent gdp growth by 2015.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reported that Iran attracted about $4.15 billion foreign direct investments (FDI) during 2011.
"While the nuclear issue is an issue of national pride and sanctions often rally the wagons rather than drive a wedge, the sanctions are also turning the economy into Iran's Achilles heel," Dorsey admitted.
Speaking about the unemployment rate in Iran, Dorsey noted that like in the rest of the Middle East, job creation is a political and economic priority.
Job market professionals believe that despite the Iranian administration's claims on creating 3.2 million jobs during the past two years, just around 800,000 jobs have been created in the most optimistic case, according to the Mehr News Agency.
Continuation of the existing trend would be alarming, as a new wave of jobless people is expected to enter the market.
Some 400,000 people have been employed in Iran in last calendar year which ended on March 19, while the government has announced over 1.6 million job opportunities were created last year, the Mehr News Agency reported.
"Iran will not be able to meet the demand for jobs with the sanction regime in place," Dorsey noted. "The sanctions are designed to create those kind of pressures in a bid to force the regime's hand".
U.S., other Western countries, and Israel suspect Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the guise of peaceful nuclear energy program.
Tehran denies the charges, saying its nuclear program is for anything but military purposes.
A number of states and international organizations, including the United Nations, adopted sanctions against Iran demanding from the Islamic republic to ensure full transparency of its nuclear program and to prove that it is exclusively for peaceful purposes.
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