The United States Treasury Department has placed sanctions on Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi, known as Golden Global Bank, and its subsidiaries, citing alleged connections to Iran. The move is part of Washington’s ongoing efforts to economically isolate the Iranian government.
According to the Treasury, the bank facilitated “tens of millions of dollars’ worth of transactions” for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and provided Iranian officials with banking channels to move funds internationally. Washington further alleged that the institution was set up to help Iran’s shadow banking network, referred to as the rahbar network, transfer oil revenue from China to Turkey via gold and cash.
In response, Golden Global Bank asserted on Friday that it strictly adhered to all local and international banking compliance standards. The bank stated there are no transactions that substantiate the US claims and announced it would pursue all legal avenues to challenge the sanctions.
“We will exercise all our rights of objection and legal recourse in the most effective manner and will take the necessary actions at the earliest against these allegations and the decision,” the bank said in a news release. It also noted that individuals and entities listed in the OFAC decision are not and have never been customers.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized the seriousness of the administration’s “Operation Economic Outcast,” stating that financial institutions are learning the consequences of facilitating such activities. The sanctions place the bank and two subsidiaries on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals list, effectively cutting them off from the US financial system.
US Ambassador to Turkiye Tom Barrack attempted to distance the broader Turkish economy from the punitive measures. Speaking on X on Saturday, Barrack urged Turkish officials not to view the action as a judgment on Turkiye itself. “The health of the Turkish financial system is not in question; the conduct of one institution was,” he wrote.
This制裁 follows a similar move last week against Egypt’s second-largest bank, where the US sought to sever its UAE operations from financial access over alleged processing of transactions for companies linked to Iran’s shadow-banking system. Earlier in the week, Bessent indicated at the G20 summit that Washington planned to announce additional bank sanctions in the coming weeks as part of a ramped-up economic campaign against Tehran.
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