The Trump administration on Friday announced sanctions against a Turkish financial institution, accusing it of helping Iran move oil revenues and maintain access to international financial channels.
The action against Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi is part of Washington’s latest attempt to cut off what the US Treasury Department described as “critical financial lifelines” supporting the Iranian government.
The sanctions followed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s launch of “Operation Economic Outcast” last week, a new US campaign aimed at isolating Iran from the countries that continue to trade with it.
The administration is seeking to increase economic pressure on Tehran and force the Iranian government to comply with US demands following more than six months of war.
The Treasury Department alleged that Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi and related entities were set up to facilitate the movement of Iranian oil revenues from China to Turkey, where the funds could be converted into cash and gold.
US authorities also accused the bank of knowingly providing financial services to Iranian entities, including institutions that were sanctioned by Washington in 2022 over their alleged involvement in handling Iran’s oil revenues.
Bessent, who revealed earlier this week that another financial institution was expected to face US penalties, warned banks and other institutions maintaining financial connections with Iran that Washington would continue its campaign.
“While we hope no more banks will need to be sanctioned, that ultimately depends on how quickly the international community comes to its senses and ceases support of the murderous Iranian regime,” he said in a press release Friday. “We know who you are, we know where you are, and we will continue to take action together with our allies and partners until we have buried the head of the Iranian snake.”
He added that financial institutions connected to Iran would “continue to find out the hard way that we are serious about Operation Economic Outcast.”
Despite the administration’s tougher stance, however, its broader effort to force countries still trading with Iran to sever their financial relationships with Tehran has yet to achieve its intended impact.
Plans for an “economic D-Day” targeting countries that could include major Iranian trading partners such as China and India have so far given way to warnings and negotiations with those countries.
