That actually makes a lot of sense, especially combined with the other answers of how some sanctions are trickier implement. Thank you!

It seems like there’s always another sanction package, why didn’t they slap them all on there in the beginning of this whole thing? What’s the benefit of holding some back and letting their economy limp along for a bit?

We built some gas turbines for them at Siemens and trained a few of their people for a new factory we had to build in Riyadh as part of the turbine deal. The individual people we were training were nice enough but it felt like morals just went out the window when the Saudi money showed up.