Azerbaijan, Baku, October 12 / Trend T. Konyayeva /
The ban on import of petrol and other oil products to Iran importing a significant part of oil products from other countries will be benefitial for Iranian smugglers, as well as will strengthen the position of Iranian leadership, US expert Paul Sullivan spoke on his own.
"It (Iran) imports a large percentage of its petrol and other refined products. But blockading these imports will work into the hands of the Iranian smuggling mafias and will also tend to strengthen, not weaken the not rattled Iranian leadership," Paul Sullivan, Professor of Economics at the National Defense University, told Trend via E-mail.
It was earlier reported that U.S President Barack Obama's administration considers possible sanctions to reduce supplies of petrol and other oil products to Iran. It is another measure to halt development of Tehran's nuclear program.
Expert said that besides import of oil products Iran has many weak points: it is not using its massive natural gas reserves to its best advantage and it needs western technology in order to do this, it also needs western and eastern investments. The Iranian economy is distorted by many irrational subsidies and poor economic leadership.
"The biggest weakness of Iran is what the leadership thinks is its greatest strength: the leadership itself," Sullivan said.
Expert spoke on his own that the Iranian leadership has a serious credibility problem because of revealed and unrevealed behavior towards nuclear program.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly stated that Iran will never negotiate on its right to nuclear energy, and refused from suspension of the development in this area. Iranian President said that he plans to conduct exploration of the atom in close cooperation with the IAEA stressing peaceful orientation of Iranian nuclear program.
Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh said that if Iran honors its obligation to provide IAEA free and unfettered access to its nuclear sites, it will make harder for Israel to lobby the U.S and Europe for a tougher line, and will reduce the prospects of a unilateral Israeli action against Iranian nuclear sites.
"After the devastating impact of sanctions on public health in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, many policy makers in the West are averse to expansive sanctions. Any new sanctions on Iran will be targeted, or what is often termed 'smart sanctions' targeting key members of the government and their commercial interests in the West," Deputy Director of National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne told Trend via E-mail.
Thus, experts agree that possible use of tough sanctions towards Iran has destructive character and can lead to strengthening of the position of the current government and aggravate the situation of the most vulnerable layers of the Iranian population.
Sullivan spoke on his own that sanctions are often counterproductive and harm the most vulnerable in an economy. Change, if it is to happen, needs to come from the Iranian people. They should decide what the future of their country should be.