The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a small Turkish investment bank and two subsidiaries on Friday as part of the Trump administration's campaign to increase economic pressure on Iran, the department said. The Treasury said it designated Istanbul-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi, asset manager Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi Anonim Sirketi and asset leasing company Golden Global Varlik Kiralama Anonim Sirketi for facilitating trade between China and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force. The move marks the first time a bank in a NATO ally has been hit under the current campaign. Washington is tightening its economic squeeze on Tehran as US military strikes and a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have failed to force Iran to the negotiating table.
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the sanctions put all three entities on its Specially Designated Nationals list, cutting them off from the dollar-based financial system. Treasury also issued a general license to allow the wind-down of transactions with the sanctioned entities. The latest US government action sent a clear message to institutions that the US government believes are facilitating trade with Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. "We know who you are, we know where you are, and we will continue to take action together with our allies and partners until we have buried the head of the Iranian snake," he said.
On X, he said the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz had prevented Iranian crude cargoes from reaching China, heaping pressure on Beijing, which relies on Iran for crude oil, and Tehran, which needs the revenue to continue the war. "Inventory cannot be replenished as crude piles up aboard vessels trapped inside the strait. Iran's export lifeline is being cut off: stranded oil, finite storage, and rapidly shrinking revenue," he said. Separately, he told America's Voice News that further sanctions against another bank were possible next week.
Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi, Turkey's 35th-largest bank, rejected the Treasury's allegations. It said it has complied with local and international banking and compliance requirements, adding it would pursue legal rights against the unfounded allegations. It added that individuals and entities named in the OFAC sanctions decision were not its customers and that it had no direct or indirect dealings with them. Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi held total assets of about 25 billion Turkish lira ($516.63 million) in 2025, according to the database TheBanks.EU. Miad Maleki, a sanctions expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the Turkish bank was tiny, but it was the first in a NATO country to be hit under the current operation. "The message to Ankara is pretty blunt: as the Gulf gets shut down, Turkey is the obvious place for this money to move next, and Treasury is already there," he said.