Interview with Vladimir Sazhin

25 May, 2007 07:43 / Updated 17 years ago

Vladimir Sazhin from the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow joined Russia Today to give his view on the situation over the Iranian nuclear programme.

Russia Today: The IAEA report was submitted on Wednesday and today's the third deadline for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment work, which it has defied. What can we expect now? Vladimir Sazhin: I think nobody had any doubts that there would be no concessions from the Iranian side. There is now a lot to be done and one of the most important events, I think, will be the G8 summit in Germany, where Iranian issues will be discussed. It seems to me that in Germany a general decision on Iran will be made. My personal view is that the international community should consolidate its forces, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it should elaborate different approaches. First of all, I mean the economic sanctions. Despite the fact that  President Ahmadinejad keeps saying that the economic sanctions are no problem for Iran, we know that Iran very much depends on external trade. That