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AzerNEWS Staff

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The Trump administration has expanded its economic pressure campaign against Iran, imposing sanctions on a Turkish investment bank and two subsidiaries that Washington alleges were involved in helping Tehran move oil revenues through the international financial system.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Friday designated Istanbul-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi, along with asset manager Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi Anonim Sirketi and asset leasing company Golden Global Varlik Kiralama Anonim Sirketi.

The three entities were added to the Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals list, cutting them off from the US financial system. Treasury also issued a general licence allowing companies to wind down transactions with the sanctioned entities.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the move in blunt terms, saying the latest sanctions were effectively a warning that the targeted institutions were “out of business”.

“And we will probably sanction another bank next week,” Bessent said in an interview with America’s Voice News, warning financial institutions that Washington knows who the “bad actors” are and that the campaign is expanding with the help of US allies.

The Treasury alleges that Golden Global was established to facilitate Iran’s shadow banking network, allowing oil revenues generated from sales to China to be transferred to Turkey, where the funds could then be converted into cash and gold through money exchangers.

Washington also accused the bank of knowingly offering correspondent banking services to Iranian financial institutions and facilitating transactions involving accounts controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force and its proxies.

Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi is ranked as Turkey’s 35th-largest bank by total assets, according to TheBanks.EU. The institution reported total assets of about 25 billion Turkish lira, equivalent to roughly $517 million, in 2025.

The bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The latest action comes as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to restrict Iran’s access to international financial networks and pressure Tehran over its oil revenues.

Bessent said last month that Washington was preparing an “economic onslaught” against Iran’s financial links worldwide and has indicated that the Treasury could impose new secondary sanctions on a weekly basis, initially focusing on banks.

The campaign has already extended beyond Turkey.

Last week, Washington moved to restrict dollar transactions involving UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr over their dealings with Iran. That action stopped short of imposing full OFAC sanctions on the bank itself and did not apply to its headquarters or branches in other countries.

The Treasury’s latest move could nevertheless raise concerns among financial institutions in countries that maintain commercial ties with Iran, particularly as Washington signals that banks outside Iran may increasingly become targets.

The economic pressure is unfolding against the backdrop of the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran, which has pushed energy prices higher and increased concerns over global oil supplies and financial stability.

Bessent told Reuters last week that the Treasury was likely to continue imposing secondary sanctions as Washington seeks to tighten the financial pressure on Tehran and push the Iranian government back towards negotiations.

But the strategy also faces questions over how much additional pressure sanctions on individual financial institutions can generate.

Brett Erickson, managing principal at Obsidian Risk Advisors, said sanctioning Golden Global would only “marginally” increase pressure on Iran and warned that further escalation could provoke retaliation.

“If this pressure cannot meaningfully change the economic trajectory of the war, Washington may simply be poking the bear,” Erickson said.

The Treasury, however, appears to be signalling that the Golden Global action is part of a broader campaign rather than an isolated measure, with Bessent warning that another bank could be sanctioned as early as next week.