Washington: The United States has imposed sanctions on a Turkish investment bank and two subsidiaries, accusing them of helping Iran move oil revenue and providing access to the international financial system as Washington intensifies its campaign to squeeze Tehran. According to Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, the US Treasury Department on September 4 designated Istanbul-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi, along with Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi and Golden Global Varlik Kiralama, under its Iran sanctions authorities. These entities have been added to the Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals list, effectively cutting them off from the US financial system. The Treasury has also issued a general license allowing transactions involving the entities to be wound down. The action is part of the Trump administration's newly intensified Operation Economic Outcast, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has stated will target financial institutions and other channels that help Iran generate an d move revenue. Bessent emphasized that financial institutions were continuing to "find out the hard way" that Washington was serious about the campaign. He warned that further action would depend on whether international institutions stopped supporting what he called the "murderous Iranian regime." The Treasury accused Golden Global Bank of facilitating tens of millions of dollars in transactions for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and providing correspondent-banking access that enabled Iranian funds to move internationally. However, Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi has rejected the US allegations, maintaining that it has complied with local and international banking and compliance requirements. The significance of the action may lie less in Golden Global's size than in the role Treasury says it played in Iran's sanctions-evasion network. The bank was reportedly established to help Iran's "rahbar" shadow-banking network transfer oil revenue from China to Turkey, where the proceeds c ould be converted into cash and gold. The bank also allegedly provided services to Iranian financial institutions and accounts controlled by the IRGC-QF and its proxies, including those linked to Turkish businessman Sitki Ayan, whose network was sanctioned by Washington in 2022 over hundreds of millions of dollars in IRGC-QF-related oil sales. Andrew Sobotka, a former senior sanctions coordinator at the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and now a senior adviser at risk-analytics firm Kharon, told RFE/RL that the designation should be viewed as a warning to financial institutions in countries that continue to conduct business with Iran. He highlighted that this administration is serious about using multiple tools in its economic security toolbox to go after Iranian financial flows. Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert and managing principal at Obsidian Risk Advisors, remarked that the broader US objective appears aimed at making banks, money exchangers, and companies in third countr ies conclude that servicing Iranian business carries risks that outweigh profits. However, he cautioned that financial de-risking alone might not necessarily cripple Iran's economy, as de-risking at the margins is still a long way from breaking the Iranian economy. The choice of a Turkish bank is significant because Turkey is a major regional commercial and financial hub and a NATO member that maintains substantial economic ties with Iran.