US & EU explore sanctions on Iran after Israel attack
The United States and the European Union have both said that they will be looking into imposing further sanctions on Iran following its attack on Israel over the weekend. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that she expects to take action “in the coming days” while t he foreign policy chief of the EU, Josep Borrel said that the bloc was working on it.
Israel has urged its allies to sanction the Iranian missile programme as United Nations sanctions over the programme expired in October. Those sanctions were connected with a wider deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.
But a number of governments, including the US and EU as well as the UK, continued to maintain sanctions and even add new ones. Israel’s military’s chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi said that the attack from Iran would not go unanswered.
Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel saw over 300 missiles and drones launched from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Most were shot down by Israel and its allies before they reached their targets. The attack, Iran says, was retaliation for a presumed air strike from Israel on its consulate in Syria on 1st April, which killed 13 people.
Israel has so far only responded with a diplomatic approach as its foreign minister urged more than two dozen countries to impose sanctions on the Iranian missile programme. It has also called for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be designated as a terrorist organisation. The US has already done this but the UK has yet to.
