US Slaps Sanctions on Turkey's Golden Global Bank in Bid to Cut Off Iran's Lifelines

The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Istanbul-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi, along with two of its subsidiaries, accusing them of helping Iran move oil revenue and gain access to the international financial system.

The designation is part of Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign led by the Trump administration to cut off financial lifelines that sustain Tehran. The Treasury Department said Golden Global Bank facilitated tens of millions of dollars in transactions for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and provided correspondent-banking access.

Andrew Sobotka, a former senior sanctions coordinator at the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, told RFE/RL that the designation should be viewed as a warning to financial institutions in countries that continue to conduct business with Iran. 'Third-country financial institutions should be thinking not only about avoiding sanctions or other actions from the US government, but also about what their correspondent banks might increasingly expect from them,' Sobotka said.