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DUBAI — The latest sanctions on Iran will harm trade with the United Arab Emirates, an Iranian business official said on Tuesday, as UAE authorities said the embargo must not hurt legitimate commerce.

"The reality is that this kind of sanctions on Iran will have a negative impact on the trade in the UAE, particularly in Dubai -- there is no question about it," said Morteza Masoumzadeh, vice president of the Iranian Business Council in Dubai.

Because of the sanctions, "the cost of the business has gone up, the (shipping) insurance is a problem," he said.

Sanctions do not apply to various types of export cargo from Iran, Masoumzadeh said, but insurance companies will still "say that we cannot cover a ship to go to Iran for loading cargo from Iran to outside.

"The market, it's something like a panic when Iran and Iranian ports (are) coming into the picture," he said.

Iran is a significant UAE trading partner, with trade volume between it and the emirate of Dubai alone estimated at about 10 billion dollars a year, mostly imports from the Islamic republic.