The United States will hit Iran with new sanctions in a matter of days in response to Tehran’s unprecedented direct attack on Israel, Washington has warned.
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said the measures would aim to reduce Tehran’s capacity to export oil and ability to finance its terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East.
“With respect to sanctions, I fully expect that we will take additional sanctions action against Iran in the coming days,” Ms Yellen said. “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,” she added.
Britain’s foreign seretary David Cameron landed in Israel on Wednesday for talks with Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli figures, as the premier’s war cabinet was set to meet for the third time in three days to consider its response to Iran’s attack.
Iran launched the attack in retaliation for an airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus on 1 April attributed to Israel, but signalled that it did not seek further escalation.