When sanctions bite

Last Modified: 10 Mar 2006
By: Lindsey Hilsum

Iran has learned to live with an American embargo, but aircraft safety is suffering as a result.

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The threat of sanctions, with room still for diplomacy, carrot and stick tactics from the European Union's foreign policy chief, as the UN security council debates what action to take over Iran's nuclear programme.

Even the Americans aren't asking the Security Council to impose an embargo right now - partly because Iran is too important an oil producer.

Nonetheless, many in Tehran expect the worst. After 25 years of unilateral US sanctions their economy's had to cope with the impact of isolation, as our international editor Lindsey Hilsum reports.