The U.N Security Council is considering sanctions as a means to quell the fighting between South Sudan and Sudan and to prevent the escalation into a full-scale war.
The Security Council has demanded that South Sudan pull its troop out of Sudan and called on Khartoum to end to aerial bombardments.
U.S Ambassador to the U.N Susan Rice said "Council members discussed ways to leverage the influence of the council to press the parties to take these steps and included in that a discussion potentially of sanctions."
Recent escalation of tensions between the two nations was initiated by Sudan’s aerial bombardment on South Sudan’s territory.
In retaliation South Sudan attacked and occupied Heglig, home to one of the largest oil fields in Sudan, near the unmarked border between the two countries.
South Sudan claims Heglig, which used to provide more than half of unitary Sudan’s oil, as part of its territory.
On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called “on both parties to end the fighting immediately and to respect international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians.”