The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Turkey’s Golden Global Investment Bank, accusing the institution of helping Iran transfer oil revenues from China to Turkey, where the funds could be converted into cash and gold.
The U.S. Treasury said the bank knowingly provided services to Iranian financial entities, including institutions previously sanctioned for facilitating Tehran’s oil sales.
The move comes as Washington intensifies its “Operation Economic Outcast” campaign to isolate Iran financially and pressure countries that continue trading with Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that financial institutions maintaining ties with Iran would face U.S. penalties, although Washington has so far been cautious about sanctioning major trading partners such as China and India.
The sanctions also came a day after Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in a long-running case involving alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran. U.S. prosecutors had accused Halkbank of facilitating the movement of about $20 billion in Iranian oil revenues.