White House announces Iran sanctions targeting military programs after strike on Israel

The White House on Tuesday announced that the United States would soon announce a slew of sanctions on Iran, its military officials, and key military programs in the wake of Tehran's recent attack on Israel.

Over the weekend, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles toward Israel in response to a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy in Damascus, Syria. The House of Representatives on Monday subsequently approved three sanctions bills targeting Iran.

The White House, for its part, plans to go further.

"In the coming days, the United States will impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program as well as new sanctions against entities supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Defense Ministry," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declared in a press release. "We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions."

"These new sanctions and other measures will continue a steady drumbeat of pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capacity and effectiveness and confront the full range of its problematic behaviors," it continued. "The pressure will continue. We will not hesitate to continue to take action, in coordination with allies and partners around the world, and with Congress, to hold the Iranian government accountable for its malicious and destabilizing actions."

Despite the announcement of sanctions, the Biden administration appears keen to deescalate military tensions in the region and President Joe Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. would not contribute to any Israeli counterstrike on Iran.

Tensions between Washington and Jerusalem, moreover, have risen amid Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip, which has drawn international scrutiny over the reported civilian death toll. Biden, for his part, has deemed the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) offensive in the coastal region "over the top."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.