U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that Iran’s weekend attacks on Israel and its monetary support for militant groups in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq could have far-reaching economic consequences for the region and beyond.
Yellen said her Treasury “will not hesitate to work with our allies to use our sanctions authorities to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activities.”
Yellen spoke ahead of this week’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
The United States has long used sanctions to isolate Iran from its proxies and the global economic system.
Iran’s attack on Saturday was in retaliation for a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, which Tehran blamed on Israel. Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles, and the Israeli military said most of them were shot down without causing any deaths. This is the first time Iran has launched an attack on Israel from its own territory.
The escalating tensions have prompted calls from the international community to avoid sparking a wider conflict. According to Israeli statistics, Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. More than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
In her statement, Yellen called for urgent action to end the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and noted that economic pressures on Hamas should not hinder aid to displaced people in Gaza who are on the verge of famine.
“All of us at these meetings have a responsibility to do what we can to end this suffering,” she said.
Yellen stressed that Washington is also using sanctions to address violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Certain information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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