US Preparing New Economic Sanctions Against Iran After Israel Attack: Report

Washington: Even as international pressure mounts on Israel to show restraint after the Iranian attack over the weekend, the US Treasury is preparing a host of new sanctions against Iran, Axios has reported. According to the report, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is working on these new sanctions and has vowed that Washington will not hesitate to punish Tehran economically for the attack on Israel. 

The report notes that while the Joe Biden administration continues to urge Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet to hold back from a major military response against Iran for fear of regional escalation, Washington is more than willing to take on Iran with economic punitive measures. 

While there is no mention of what these sanctions may turn out to be, the report does say that Yellen will attempt to garner the cooperation of her fellow finance ministers at this week's annual IMF meetings in Washington. This effort will aim to get other countries to coordinate their efforts with whatever sanctions the US is preparing. 

What is known is that the Republican-led House of Representatives is set to bring several bills to vote throughout the week which prescribe wide-ranging economic sanctions against Iran and its proxies. The first of these bills passed on Monday and it aims to expand existing sanctions on Iranian oil to cover Chinese financial institutions that continue to purchase petroleum products from Iran. 

This, however, is not an approach free of risk. As some analysts have pointed out, the US operationalising this bill will likely anger China at a time when the US is attempting to mend ties with Beijing following the recent China trip of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. To add to this, sanctioning China for buying oil from Iran will likely have a significant impact on oil prices worldwide. 

Bob McNally, president of the consultancy firm Rapidan Energy Group told the Washington Post that sanctioning Chinese banks would remove as many as 1.5 million barrels per day from the global oil market which may send prices to over $100 per barrel. 

In the meantime, Israel is pursuing its own efforts to bring new sanctions against Iran.

On Tuesday, the nation's foreign minister, Israel Katz, said on X that he had written to 32 nations and spoken to dozens of foreign ministers to garner support for sanctions against Iran's missile project. Katz is also pushing for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) of Iran to be declared a terrorist organisation.