Janet Yellen, United States treasury secretary, throughout a press conference at the Treasury Department in Washington, DC, United States, on Tuesday, April 16,2024
Tierney L. Cross|Bloomberg|Getty Images
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated Tuesday that the U.S. is preparing brand-new sanctions on Iran after the nation released numerous drones and rockets at Israel over the weekend.
“Treasury will not hesitate to work with our allies to use our sanctions authority to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity,” Yellen stated in remarks ahead of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s Spring Meetings today. “The attack by Iran and its proxies underscores the importance of Treasury’s work to use our economic tools to counter Iran’s malign activity.”
Yellen’s remarks come as Israel’s wartime Cabinet is weighing how to react to the attack, which Iran released in retaliation for an Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria previously this month. Israel stated it obstructed 99% of the more than 300 projectiles from Iran that can be found in on Saturday.
The U.S. has actually enforced sanctions on Iran and its proxies over the last few years for their connections to terrorism and for the nation’s rocket program. Yellen stated she anticipates brand-new sanctions in the coming days.
“We don’t preview our sanctions tools, but in discussions I’ve had all options to disrupt terrorist financing of Iran continue to be on the table,” Yellen stated.
Yellen stated the Treasury might do more to avoid Iran’s capability to export oil in spite of U.S. sanctions. China has in current years imported more Iranian oil, which has actually enabled Tehran to keep a favorable trade balance.
“Clearly, Iran is continuing to export some oil. There may be more that we could do. I don’t want to preview our actual sanctions activities, but certainly that remains in focus as a possible area that we could address,” Yellen stated.
Yellen stated the Treasury has an essential function in discouraging Iran however that President Joe Biden and the administration are carrying out a wider diplomatic effort.
“From this weekend’s attack to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Iran’s actions threaten the region’s stability and could cause economic spillovers,” Yellen stated.
CORRECTION: This post has actually been upgraded to remedy that Yellen’s remarks were from remarks ahead of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s Spring Meetings today.
