US Treasury sanctions Turkey's Golden Global Bank over Iran ties
The US Treasury designated Turkey-based Golden Global Bank and two affiliates on Friday, accusing them of moving Iranian oil revenue and facilitating tens of millions of dollars in transactions for the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force. The action is part of Operation Economic Outcast, the campaign Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched on August 24. Bessent said he hoped no further banks would need sanctioning, an outcome he tied to how quickly other governments stop supporting Tehran.
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Treasury designates Golden Global Bank and its subsidiaries
The US Treasury Department said on Friday it had sanctioned Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi and its subsidiaries Golden Global Varlik Kiralama and Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi, acting under Executive Order 13902. The department said the bank was set up to move Iranian oil revenue from China through Turkey, where it could be converted into cash and gold by exchangers in the network of sanctioned businessman Sitki Ayan, and that it knowingly gave Iranian financial institutions correspondent banking access used to move funds abroad. Turkish Minute reported the bank facilitated transactions worth tens of millions of dollars for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, and that the sanctions came a week after Washington moved to cut the United Arab Emirates operations of an Egyptian bank off the US financial system.[1], [2]
Bessent ties further sanctions to how fast Iran's partners retreat
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington hoped no further banks would need to be designated, adding that this depended on how quickly other governments stopped supporting Tehran. Turkish Minute quoted Bessent saying that financial institutions keep finding out the hard way that the campaign is serious, and reported he had said Washington would probably announce sanctions on one bank that week and another the next as part of the effort to cut Iran off from the international financial system; Bessent made the remarks at a G20 finance officials' meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, where he sought other countries' support for pressure on Iran. Treasury's own statement carried no response from the bank or from Ankara.[1], [2]
The designation extends a six-month campaign against Iran's economy
The sanctions belong to Operation Economic Outcast, the campaign Bessent announced on August 24 to isolate Tehran's economy six months into the US and Israeli war with Iran. Turkish Minute reported the war began in late February when the United States and Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran that killed the country's supreme leader, and that Bessent had recently described the effort as an economic D-Day on Iran, warning of penalties for countries that decline to join it. Treasury said the network it targeted gave Tehran a key channel to move funds internationally even as most of its financial system remains cut off by earlier sanctions.[1], [2]
