The international community can turn up the heat on Iran without fretting about fuel reserves, the White House said Friday. New sanctions proposed by President Obama will move forward after a government assessment of the crude oil available on world markets. The measures take aim at the Islamic Republic’s central bank, the primary middleman for oil exports, by exerting pressure on banks outside Iran that purchase the country’s most valuable commodity. The new sanctions come as U.S. gas prices have risen 20 percent this year due to tensions of Iran’s suspected nuclear program.
