US treasury secretary Janet Yellen expects to announce new sanctions against Iran “in the coming days” after Tehran’s weekend attack on Israel — and she hinted that oil exports are a possible target.
She told a press conference that all options are on the table that could disrupt “terrorist financing” of Iran, though she was hesitant to telegraph details on the upcoming sanctions.
“We have been working to diminish Iran’s ability to export oil. Clearly, Iran is continuing to export some oil. There may be more that we could do,” she said in Washington DC on Tuesday.
“I don’t want to preview our actual sanctions activities, but certainly that remains in focus as a possible area that we could address.”
She added that the Biden administration is also involved in discussions to use a variety of diplomatic tools to restrain Iran.
The threat of additional sanctions comes as no surprise.
TradeWinds reported earlier on Tuesday that the US is facing pressure to take action to rein in Iran’s oil exports after Tehran rained a barrage of missiles and drones on Israel, which was able to largely repel the attack.
Iran exported 1.5m barrels per day of crude in March despite measures by the US to crack down on the trade.
Yellen said the Biden administration has targeted more than 500 individuals and entities connected to terrorism and terrorist financing.
Since 7 October last year, when Hamas attacked Israel, the Treasury Department has sanctioned 117 people and vessels tied to what Yellen described as Iran’s “destabilising” activities.
“Treasury will not hesitate to work with our allies to use our sanctions authority to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign destabilising activity,” she said.
The US is not alone in seeking additional sanctions against Tehran.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that some of the bloc’s member states are calling for expansion of sanctions on Iran after the attack on Israel.
“Some member states proposed … adopting an expansion of restrictive measures against Iran,” Borrell said, according to Reuters. “I will send to the External Action Service the request to start the necessary work related to these sanctions.”
