In recent years, the default position for Western leaders whenever they find themselves involved in a new standoff with Iran is to hit the Islamic Republic with a new round of sanctions.
For the better part of two decades, successive Western governments have been looking to curb Iran’s destabilising influence in the Middle East and beyond by imposing various sanctions that are designed to limit the Iranian regime’s activities.
Most of the sanctions currently in place against Tehran have been taken in response to Iran’s nuclear programme, which many Western governments believe is ultimately aimed at producing nuclear weapons.
As a consequence, severe restrictions have been placed on Iran’s ability to access technology and material that might be used to aid its nuclear development, while a range of economic sanctions—including imposing limits on Iran’s ability to export oil—have been implemented in response to Iran’s continuing work on its uranium enrichment programme.
In recent months, the sanctions regime against Iran has been strengthened even further, especially by the US, after Iranian-backed militias have been accused of attacking US forces in Syria and Iraq in the wake of the 7 October attacks.
The UK, too, has adopted a more robust approach to Tehran after British security officials uncovered a number of Iranian plots to kill or kidnap Iranian opposition figures residing in the UK.
Seven senior members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and one Iranian organisation were added to the UK’s sanctions list in January over claims they were involved in threats to kill journalists on British soil.
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that, following Iran’s decision to launch its first direct attack against Israel since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, Western leaders are once more looking at new ways to punish Iranian aggression with a new round of sanctions.
