The apparent shift in thinking comes after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday ordered his defense minister to accelerate the country's ballistic missile program | Getty White House delays imposing new sanctions on Iran

The White House is delaying imposing new financial sanctions on Iran for a recent ballistic missile test it conducted, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday evening.

The apparent shift in thinking comes after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday ordered his defense minister to accelerate the country's ballistic missile program and threatened to intensify its missile capacity as a reprisal to the impending sanctions.


The new sanctions from the U.S. would have been the first since Iran reached a nuclear deal with the world powers earlier this year. As part of that deal, the U.S. agreed to ease sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear capabilities.

While the tests may not have violated the nuclear pact, Obama administration officials have pledged to punish Iran, noting that the U.S. has the right to sanction Iran over human rights abuses, sponsorship of terrorism and ballistic missile activity.

The Obama administration confirmed earlier this week that it was looking into sanctioning Iran but offered no details.

“As we've said, we've been looking for some time at options for additional actions related to Iran's ballistic missile program based on our continued concerns about its activities, including the Oct. 10 launch,” a senior administration official said in a statement late Wednesday. “We are considering various aspects related to additional designations, as well as evolving diplomatic work that is consistent with our national security interests. As always, we keep Congress informed about issues related to Iran sanctions, and will continue to do so as we work through remaining issues.”