US Continues to Seek New Ways to Impose Sanctions on Russia and Iran

The United States continues to identify new ways to impose sanctions on Russia and Iran, according to Jonathan Burke, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing, on Wednesday (22 April). “We continue to identify new ways to apply sanctions against Russia and Iran,” Burke stated during a hearing before the US House of Representatives. He added that sanction exemptions for oil from Russia and Iran would not provide significant benefits to the two countries and would be difficult to generate real profits from the sanction policy. Earlier in March, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general licence permitting all transactions related to Russian and Iranian oil loaded onto ships until 11 April and 19 April, respectively. Then, on 21 March, NBC News reported that the policy could potentially give Iran more than $14 billion. However, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later refuted the figure, calling it a “myth”. Additionally, on 14 April, the US Treasury Department announced it would end the sanction exemption for Iranian oil. Subsequently, on 17 April, the department issued a general licence allowing the sale of Russian oil loaded onto ships as of 17 April until 16 May. On 28 February, the US and Israel launched joint strikes against several targets in Iran, including in Tehran, causing damage and numerous civilian casualties. Iran then responded by attacking Israeli territory and US military facilities in the Middle East region as an act of self-defence. The escalation of the conflict nearly halted traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic shipping route for oil and liquefied natural gas from Gulf countries to global markets, which also contributed to rising fuel prices.