U.S. Sanctions Turkish Bank It Calls a ‘Critical Financial Lifeline’ for Iran

AP

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The Trump administration announced on Friday that it had imposed sanctions on a Turkish financial institution as part of its latest efforts to sever what it described as “critical financial lifelines” supporting the Iranian government, The Associated Press reported.

The actions against Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi come after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week launched “Operation Economic Outcast, ” Washington’s new effort to isolate already heavily sanctioned Iran from its remaining trading partners to try to get it to capitulate to U.S. demands after more than six months of war.

According to The Associated Press, the Treasury Department accused the Turkish bank and its entities of being established to enable Iran’s efforts to transfer oil revenues from China to Türkiye, where they could then be converted to cash and gold. It also said the institution “knowingly offered” banking services to Iranian financial entities, including those already sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2022 for funneling Tehran’s oil sales.

Bessent, who had told The Associated Press earlier this week that another bank would face economic penalties, said financial institutions with ties to Iran will “continue to find out the hard way that we are serious about Operation Economic Outcast.”

“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.”

But so far, the goal to force those that still do business with Iran to cut off financial ties or face U.S. retaliation has fallen flat, with promises of an “economic D-Day” for a group of countries that could include China and India quickly turning into warnings and negotiations with Iran’s trading partners.

Bessent had previously told reporters that he wanted countries to have an opportunity to shift away from Iran before it was too late in a bid to avoid upending the global financial system.

The Trump administration’s reluctance to penalise major trading partners that still do business with Iran was on display last week when the U.S. took steps to limit an Egyptian bank’s operations in the United Arab Emirates but stopped short of imposing sanctions.

The U.S. also has resumed military strikes in recent days, prompting Iranian retaliation in the region. 

Among the targets of the latest U.S. sanctions is Golden Global Investment Bank, founded in 2019 as Türkiye’s first investment bank to offer “banking services and alternative financing methods” to foreign companies, according to its website.

The Istanbul-based bank, which is relatively unfamiliar to most Turks, says it aims to boost Türkiye’s foreign trade by focusing on target markets in neighbouring countries.

The U.S. Treasury’s announcement came a day after Türkiye’s state-owned Halkbank said it had reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in a nine-year-old case concerning alleged violations of sanctions against Iran.

In that case, senior Halkbank officials were accused of illegally transferring around $20 billion in Iranian oil revenues. U.S. prosecutors alleged that senior Turkish government officials had received millions of dollars in bribes to facilitate and protect the scheme.

The Halkbank case strained U.S.-Turkish relations, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally lobbying the White House to have the case dropped.



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