Middle East conflict

USA announces new sanctions against Iran

US President Joe Biden with his advisors, including his security advisor Jake Sullivan.

(Bild: Adam Schultz/The White House via AP)

Iran's direct attack on Israel has consequences: The USA will extend the sanctions. The EU is also planning punitive measures.

Following the Iranian attack on Israel, the USA has announced new sanctions against Tehran. These are to be directed against the Iranian missile and drone program, among other things, as the National Security Advisor to US President Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan, announced in Washington on Tuesday evening.

The punitive measures would also affect institutions that support the Revolutionary Guards and the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Defense. The statement went on to say that the USA assumed that its allies and partners would follow suit with similar measures.

These new sanctions and other measures will continue the steady pressure to contain and weaken Iran's military capacity and effectiveness and the full range of its problematic behavior.

Jake Sullivan

EU extends sanctions
According to its chief diplomat Josep Borrell, the European Union is working on extending sanctions against Iran. The tightening of sanctions is intended to affect Iranian arms exports, including the supply of drones to Russia.

Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) stated in advance that he expected a clear majority in favor of sanctions.

Schallenberg: "Crossing the red line must have consequences"
The EU must "take a clear position: On the one hand de-escalating, on the other drawing clear lines", he said. Schallenberg called for a "clear reaction from the international community towards Iran": if a red line is crossed, there must be consequences.

"I don't see why deliveries of missiles to proxies (allies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon or Houthis in Yemen, note) are not covered by the sanctions regime. But our goal must be to avoid a conflagration."

Israel, on the other hand, should not allow itself to be provoked, as they "have basically won the day: They have been able to fend off 99 percent of the (Iranian, note) missiles," emphasized Schallenberg. Israel had the support of the USA, Great Britain, France and Jordan.

US President Joe Biden surrounded by his advisors

(Bild: Adam Schultz/The White House via AP)

"Moving away from the abyss"
"The region is on the edge of the abyss," Borrell also emphasized. We must now move away from it. If attack follows counter-attack and the intensity continues to increase, we will end up with a real war. The war in the Gaza Strip will then not end either.

Borrell did not initially say in the evening when the planned new Iran sanctions could come into force. He merely pointed out that there will be another regular meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg next Monday.