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US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on Tuesday of potential global economic damage as a result of rising tensions in the Middle East. She vowed that the United States and its allies will not hesitate to impose new sanctions on Iran to condemn its "malign and destabilizing activity" in the region.
She made the comments ahead of the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) starting this week, saying Tehran's missile attack on Israel "underscores the importance of the Treasury Department's work to use our economic tools to counter Iran's malign activity."
She added: "From this weekend's attack to the Houthi (Yemeni militant group) attacks in the Red Sea, Iran's actions threaten the stability of the region and could cause economic consequences."
The missile strike against Israel, in the early hours of Sunday, was in response to what Tehran says was an Israeli attack on Iran's consulate in Syria earlier this month. Israel's army chief said on Monday his country would respond to the attack, as world leaders warned against retaliatory action, trying to avoid an outbreak of violence.
As the IMF and World Bank hold their spring meetings this week, high on the agenda are rising tensions between Iran and Israel and what impact that escalation could have on the global economy.
Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel's six-month war against Hamas militants in Gaza. The war erupted after two Iranian-backed militant groups carried out an attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others, according to Israeli data. The Israeli response in Gaza has caused widespread damage and killed more than 33,000 people, according to local health officials, figures that have not been confirmed by independent sources.
"We have targeted over 500 individuals and entities associated with terrorism and the financing of terrorism by the Iranian regime and its proxies since the beginning of the administration's tenure," Ms Yellen said, citing sanctions against Iran's drone and missile programs. , the militant groups Hamas, Houthi, Hezbollah and other Iraqi groups.
"The Treasury Department will not hesitate to work with allies to use sanctions authority to continue to disrupt the Iranian regime's malign and destabilizing activity," she said. "I expect that we will take additional sanctions action against Iran in the coming days."
The annual meeting comes as other conflicts, including Russian aggression against Ukraine, continue to threaten global financial stability.
Secretary Yellen in February offered strong public support for the idea of using the Russian Central Bank's frozen assets, worth roughly $300 billion, to rebuild Ukraine.
She said on Tuesday that the US "is continuing to work with international partners to unlock the economic value of Russian real estate and ensure that Russia pays for the damage it has caused." Ms. Yellen added that she will meet finance leaders from the Group of Seven of the world's most industrialized nations on Wednesday to continue discussions on the topic and will look at "a range of options, ranging from seizing assets to using them as collateral".
Another key issue for this year's meetings, according to Secretary Yellen, will be the ongoing talks about Chinese industrial policy that poses a threat to US jobs and the global economy. She traveled to Guangzhou and Beijing earlier this month to hold "difficult talks" with counterparts over what she described as China's overproduction of green technology and low-cost sales, which could hurt American factories and make competition impossible.
Secretary Yellen said she plans to meet this week with her Chinese counterparts at what would be the fourth meeting of the US-China Economic and Financial Working Groups. The meeting, according to her, will be held "to exchange information, to identify possible areas of cooperation and on issues on which we disagree, to honestly communicate the concerns we have", as she said.
China's Treasury Department and Ministry of Finance have set up economic working groups in an effort to ease tensions and deepen ties between the two countries. / VOA
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