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The action against Golden Global Bank makes it the second financial institution targeted by “Operation Economic Pariah,” the Trump administration’s attempt to isolate Tehran by sanctioning its trading partners.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement: “While we hope it will not be necessary to sanction more banks, that ultimately depends on how quickly the international community comes to its senses and stops supporting the murderous Iranian regime.”
“We know who they are, we know where they are and we will continue to act together with our allies and partners until we have buried the head of the Iranian snake,” Bessent said.
Golden Global Bank did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
President Donald Trump has touted the sanctions operation as an “economic D-Day” of unprecedented scope and intensity, but the Treasury has so far taken few steps to implement the plan since its launch on August 24.
The United States has yet to take tangible action against China, Iran’s largest trading partner and its largest oil buyer. While Bessent insists that Beijing is not exempt from potential sanctions, he also rejects the idea that the plan only works if China agrees. Some geopolitical experts are skeptical that the United States risks upsetting its fragile relations with China, at least before Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.
A week earlier, the Treasury moved to sanction the branch of an Egyptian bank in the United Arab Emirates over its financial ties to Iran. The European Union has expressed its support for Operation Economic Pariah and this week formally joined the campaign.
The new sanctions cover Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi and its subsidiaries Golden Global Varlik Kiralama Anonim Sirketi and Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi Anonim Sirketi.
The companies “have facilitated transactions worth tens of millions of dollars” for the Revolutionary Guard’s expeditionary arm known as the Quds Force, and “provide the Iranian regime with key correspondent banking access that allows it to move its funds internationally,” the Treasury said in a news release.
Golden Global was “established for the purpose of allowing Iran’s rahbar network to transfer oil revenues from China to Turkey, where rahbar money changers could then convert them into cash and gold,” according to the Treasury. The rahbar network is the shadow banking and financial apparatus used by the regime.
The bank “has knowingly offered to provide correspondent banking services to Iranian financial institutions,” the department said.
