US Rejects Israeli Complaints, Insists Sanctions Really Hurting Iran High Oil Prices by Jason Ditz,

US Rejects Israeli Complaints, Insists Sanctions Really Hurting Iran State Dept. Says Sanctions Must Be 'Gradual' to Avoid High Oil Prices by Jason Ditz, January 18, 2012 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum The US has rejected growing condemnations from the Israeli government for not imposing even wider and more hostile sanctions on Iran. A State Dept. official said the sanctions already in place are in fact devastating the Iranian economy. The State Department also defended its gradual implementation of a full scale embargo on Iranian oil, insisting it needs to make the changes gradual to avoid a jump in oil prices. The Obama Administration went on to say that it expects the sanctions to cripple the Iranian central bank within the next two months. It’s also believed that countries will replace their oil supply from Iran with oil from serendipitously and recently regime-changed Libya. The European Union has also recently been discussing new sanctions on Iranian oil, but the decision has been forestalled amid concerns that the oil price in Europe would rise significantly with the move and that countries like Greece would see their already floundering economies damaged.