The United States Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on a Turkish investment bank, accusing it of acting as a covert financial conduit for Iran's government and its powerful security apparatus, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The targeted institution, Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi — Golden Global Investment Bank — was founded in 2019 as Turkey's first investment bank focused on facilitating foreign trade, and is based in Istanbul. Washington alleges the bank was specifically established to enable Iran to transfer oil revenues earned in China back to Turkey, where the funds could be converted into cash and gold, effectively circumventing an extensive web of existing international sanctions.
The Treasury Department says Golden Global knowingly provided banking services to Iranian financial entities, including institutions already sanctioned in 2022 for channelling Tehran's oil sales. The sanctions place the bank and its two subsidiaries on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)'s Specially Designated Nationals list, cutting off their access to the American financial system. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the action as part of "Operation Economic Outcast," a broader Washington campaign to sever what he called the remaining financial lifelines sustaining Iran during an ongoing armed conflict now stretching beyond six months. Bessent, speaking on the sidelines of a G20 summit earlier this week, had signalled that further bank sanctions were imminent.
Golden Global Bank strongly denied the allegations, stating it complies fully with local and international banking regulations and that none of the individuals or entities named in the US decision are its customers. The bank announced it would pursue all available legal remedies against the sanctions. US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack sought to limit diplomatic fallout, stressing that the action targeted the conduct of a single institution and should not be read as a broader judgement on the health of Turkey's financial system.
The move comes just one day after Turkey's state-owned Halkbank announced a settlement with the US Justice Department in a separate, nine-year case in which senior Halkbank officials were accused of illegally moving roughly $20 billion in Iranian oil revenues — a case that had previously strained US-Turkey relations significantly. Last week, Washington also moved against an Egyptian bank's operations in the United Arab Emirates over alleged Iran-linked transactions, though it stopped short of full sanctions in that instance.
Why this matters: The sanctions underscore the widening reach of Washington's campaign to economically isolate Iran, targeting financial institutions in third countries rather than Iran directly. Yet the strategy faces headwinds: major Iranian trading partners such as China and India have so far resisted US pressure, and an "economic D-Day" threatened against them has given way to negotiations. With energy prices rising and US midterm congressional elections approaching, the Trump administration is under pressure to demonstrate progress in a conflict that has already left a significant mark on the global economy.