Former OPEC Governor: Iran Sanctions Cost World Economy $10.2bln Each Day

The world economy suffers the most from the US-led western sanctions against Iran, Tehran’s former Governor to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Fereidoun Berkeshli said, stressing Iran’s strong economic foundations and its strength for standing against the western sanctions.

“According to a simulation model that we have used (at Vienna Energy Group), with an increase of every $10 in oil price, the global economic growth reduces by 0.28 percent which amounts to approximately $10.2bln per day,” Berkeshli, who also heads the Vienna Energy Group, told FNA on Tuesday.

He said that every 5-percent risk ratio that the anti-Iran sanctions pose to the market means an $11 increase in the base price of each barrel of Brent oil and $9.5 increase in the base price of Dubai oil.

“It means that consumers are forced to pay such amounts for purchasing oil and other oil products. This issue at a time when the world economy is badly ill and specially when the European Union is struggling with the harshest economic crisis since World War II is a pressure which no one knows how long can be tolerated,” the energy expert said.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West’s calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed the West’s demand as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path.