Biden unlikely to enforce existing U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports after Israel attack

Iran's missile strike on Israel unlikely to prompt dramatic sanctions due to concerns about oil prices and China.

Iran's missile and drone strike on Israel is unlikely to prompt dramatic sanctions action on Iran's oil exports from the Biden administration due to worries about boosting oil prices and angering top buyer China, said analysts.

Shortly after Tehran launched its weekend attack — retaliation for Israel's suspected April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus — House Republican leaders accused President Joe Biden of failing to enforce existing measures and said they would take up this week a series of bills to sharpen sanctions on Iran.

Speaking to Fox News on April 15, Representative Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said the administration had made it easier for Iran to sell its oil, generating revenues that were being used to "go fund terrorist activity."

The political pressure to punish Iran has created a thorny problem for the Biden administration: how to deter such attacks in future without escalating regional tensions, raising oil prices or antagonizing China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil.

Washington has said for months that among its primary goals is to keep the Gaza conflict between Hamas and Israel from metastasizing in to a wider regional war, with a key aim of keeping Tehran on the sidelines.

Several regional analysts said they doubted Mr. Biden would take significant action to ramp up the enforcement of existing U.S. sanctions to choke off Iran's crude exports, the lifeblood of its economy.

"Even if these bills pass, it's hard to see the Biden administration going into overdrive, to try to spring into action or enforce existing sanctions or new ones to try to cut or curb (Iranian oil exports) in any meaningful way," said Scott Modell, a former CIA officer, now CEO of Rapidan Energy Group.