The financially stricken south coast club are hoping to be able to finalise a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), which will allow them to come out of administration ahead of the new campaign in the Championship, and so avoid a further points sanction.
"At some point, sanctions become an act of war," said Vali Nasr, a professor at Tufts University and an expert on Iranian affairs.
At that point, sanctions will lapse unless there is a unanimous decision among the 28 member states to keep them going.
Backed by France and Russia, Iraq wants to know exactly at what point sanctions would be suspended if it decided to accept the new plan.
A tackle to the head deemed reckless will incur either a yellow or a red card and, if the latter, a minimum entry-point sanction of four weeks.
Verbal abuse of a player based on religion, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or otherwise carries an entry-point sanction of four weeks.
Ashley Brown, the PST chairman, had previously said it would be "devastating" if the 10-point sanction was imposed next season, with Portsmouth's future now finally appearing stable despite a second successive relegation.
Verbal abuse of a player based on religion, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or otherwise carries an entry-point sanction of four weeks, so Marler is still likely to miss the Stade de France showdown.
There are other reasons to persist with Locke, since the team has performed ably in recent weeks and would not have finished bottom of the league had it not been for the 15-point sanction imposed for Heart of Midlothian Football Club plc being in administration at the start of the season.
We are fast approaching a point when sanctions will no longer be able to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program.
