These are worries shared by those working in Iran's most traditional export, Persian carpets, a sector that was also weighed down by US sanctions until recently.
Razi Miri who runs Miri Carpets employs 6,000 people in his export business in the bazaar.
He has pioneered the weaving of new carpets using old designs reviving traditional methods of dying and weaving, but the product is again too expensive for the local market.
Mr Miri, who has just returned from a carpet expo in Germany, says the problems in getting visas for some countries already make it difficult for him to do business, though it could get worse.
¿Exporting is something special," he says.
"We have to have good relations with other countries if we want to export."
Violent revolution
Mr Miri believes sanctions simply will not have the intended effect because exporters will always find a way round them.
Locals cannot afford Persian carpets
"Sanctions can be a very serious problem for exporters in our country," he says, adding that "it doesn't mean they can stop Iran 100% in terms of business; they can make problems for us but [they cannot stop us] completely".
The message from Iran's exporters is that sanctions that would curb Iran's non oil exports would not alter government policy, but it would remove the livelihood of ordinary Iranians.
Some abroad might say that would force the Iranian people to topple their government, but after one violent revolution a quarter of a century ago there is little appetite here for another."
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