Diplomatic sanctions are actions taken by countries against others, either unilaterally or multilaterally, and are generally considered to be of two forms:

• Economic sanctions
• Military sanctions

Economic sanctions can vary from imposing import duties on goods from, or blocking the export of on certain goods to, the target country, to a full naval blockade of its ports. Similarly, military sanctions can range from carefully-targeted airborne assaults of bombers to invasion and occupation.