Iran’s oil revenues will reach a record of more than $100 billion this year, despite the sanctions imposed on the oil sector over its nuclear program, an international energy research firm said. According to IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associate (IHS CERA), high global crude oil prices boosted oil revenues of the Islamic Republic by nearly a third compared to the figure for 2010, Presstv reported. Bhushan Bahree, IHS CERA senior director for global oil, told Reuters, “The West faces a classic catch-22 in regards to Iranian sanctions,” adding, “Any sanctions that the West imposes [on Iran] will ratchet up tensions, which raises fears of a conflict and puts more upward pressure on oil prices.” He noted that the result of any possible sanction on Iran to keep the Iranian oil from buyers is a higher profit for the Islamic Republic as ‘it inevitably sells the oil to someone else’. Foreign ministers of the European Union met on December 1 to impose new sanctions against 180 Iranian individuals and companies, but failed to impose an embargo on the country’s oil sector. On November 21, the United States, Britain and Canada imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran’s energy and financial sectors after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report on Tehran’s nuclear program on November 8, which claimed Iran’s nuclear program had a military aspect. The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to convince the UN Security Council to impose four rounds of sanctions on the country. Tehran has categorically refuted Western allegations, saying that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has the right to acquire and develop atomic technology for peaceful purposes. Iranian officials have repeatedly described the sanctions against the Islamic Republic as futile and ineffective.