Economic sanctions are nothing new for Iran. The US imposed sanctions on the country following the Islamic revolution of 1979, when Iranian students stormed the US embassy and took diplomats hostage. In 1995, the then US president Bill Clinton issued executive orders preventing national companies from investing in Iranian oil and gas, or trading with Iran.
The more recent rounds of sanctions by the US and other countries and organisations are aimed at confronting Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme. The UN Security Council has imposed four sets of sanctions on Iran over the past five years: in December 2006, March 2007, March 2008 and June 2010.
