It is about time the West realize that the sanctions imposed on Iraq are biting, but they are not biting at the right spot.

In Iran, sanctions are biting, with the rial currency losing 20 percent of value against the dollar in the past week.

"Are the sanctions biting?"

No Immediate Results Few regional experts expect economic sanctions to bite quickly.

They also say they are pessimistic that talks planned for late June will resolve the dispute before the sanctions bite.

Oil income is down and whatever Tehran says, the sanctions are biting.

I hope the world takes notice at this late stage, and makes the sanctions bite, as nobody, yes nobody, including the Israelis want a conflagration in that part of the world.

The policy has been implemented with skill and determination: the sanctions are biting, and a new round of talks begins this week in Geneva.

Beyond the physical violence, there is the worsening economic crisis as international sanctions bite and hundreds of thousands of Syrians face a winter with dwindling supplies of oil for heating and cooking.

All four of them could see that sanctions were biting, however much Saddam denied it.