U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law a fresh sanctions bill against Iran the evening of July 1, according to White House officials. The legislation aims to strengthen U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran by applying pressure on companies with investment interests in the United States to curtail their gasoline trade and financial exchanges with Iran. Meanwhile, nearly every statement emanating from Tehran in recent days has consisted of self-congratulatory announcements on how the country has achieved self-sufficiency in various industries in order to insulate the Islamic Republic from sanctions. Though such announcements are designed to reassure the Iranian public that current U.S. and European sanction efforts are futile, there is little hiding the fact that the Iranian economy is far from self-sufficient.