The United States has imposed sanctions on Turkey's Golden Global Bank, which the US Treasury Department says helped Iran evade sanctions and carry out international financial transactions. The department announced the move on its website.
Golden Global Bank is accused of giving Iranian financial institutions access to the international banking system, including dollar transactions.
Weekly sanctions campaign
Last week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised to impose secondary sanctions every week as part of Operation Economic Outcast, announced on August 24. The campaign is designed to cut off the financial channels through which Iran earns revenue, evades sanctions and funds its military and what the US calls terrorist structures.
The first target under the weekly sanctions push was Egypt's Banque Misr, hit on August 31.
What the Treasury says the bank did
According to the Treasury Department's statement, Golden Global Bank, based in Turkey, was created so Iranian leadership could transfer revenue from oil sales to China into Turkey, where the funds could then be converted into cash and gold. The statement said the bank knowingly offered correspondent banking services to Iranian financial institutions, allowing them to carry out transactions through accounts controlled by the Quds Force, the elite unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and related structures.
Golden Global Bank is a private investment bank that operates according to Sharia principles. The bank holds a small share of the market, accounting for 0.06% of Turkish banking sector assets as of the end of the first quarter of 2026.
What the sanctions mean
Under the sanctions, the assets of Golden Global Bank and its subsidiaries within US jurisdiction are blocked, and American individuals and companies are barred from carrying out transactions with them.
Operation Economic Outcast
Operation Economic Outcast, also referred to as an economic "D-Day," is a large-scale campaign that US President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have described as the largest financial offensive ever directed against a US adversary. Its goal is to cut off the economic channels that support Iran and push the country back to the negotiating table.
The policy is not aimed at Iran alone. The United States has warned that it will impose serious economic consequences and secondary sanctions on any country, company or financial institution that does business with the Iranian regime.
