Treasury Dept Warns Congress Against New Iran Sanctions

Warns Sanctions Needlessly Undermine US Unity With Partners

Treasury Undersecretary Adam Szubin, speaking today at a conference in Washington, warned Congress against imposing new sanctions on Iran over their conventional ballistic missile tests, warning in particular against overuse of sanctions.

The Obama Administration has struggled with its narrative on Iran’s missile tests, initially claiming they weren’t a violation of the P5+1 nuclear deal, then insisting they were, and pushing for international condemnation of the effort.

As far as sanctions go, however, Szubin warned they would “needlessly risk undermining our unity with international partners,” because the rest of the international community has no intention of going along with the sanctions.

Szubin’s comments reflect a previous speech by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who also warned the US was overusing sanctions, too quick to impose new sanctions and too unwilling to ease them, saying it was undermining US credibility.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.