Exclusive | US severs Irans financial lifeline to NATO ally Turkey with bank sanctions: Find out the hard way

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department slapped sanctions on a bank in Turkey Friday in the latest effort to squeeze Iran into submission, The Post has learned.The Istanbul-based Golden Global Bank allegedly moved large sums paid by China for Iranian oil, funneling the proceeds to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).The sanctions affecting a financial institution in a NATO ally mark an escalation of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s “Operation Economic Outcast,” which aims to apply such severe economic pain that the Iranian regime either submits to a peace deal or collapses.“Financial institutions continue to find out the hard way that we are serious about Operation Economic Outcast,” Bessent said of Friday’s action.“While we hope no more banks will need to be sanctioned, that ultimately depends on how quickly the international community comes to its senses and ceases support of the murderous Iranian regime,” he added.“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.”Golden Global Bank, founded in 2019, bills itself as “Turkey’s first investment bank that conducts all its activities in accordance with interest-free finance principles,” a nod to Islam’s ban on charging interest.The bank is Turkey’s 35th largest and has a market share of less than a tenth of a percent, according to the financial information website TheBanks.EU, which says Golden Global controls the equivalent of $517 million in assets.“This bank has been warned for years,” said Gene Lange, acting Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.“We have repeatedly warned these entities, and today’s action makes clear that those warnings have consequences.This is a message to everyone else: the secretary means every single word he said at the press conference announcing Operation Economic Outcast.”Although ...