Risky Business: Treasury Action Against GoldenGlobal Bank Validates UANI’s Longstanding Warnings to Turkish Banks

(New York, NY) — United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) today welcomed the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s designation of Turkey-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi (Golden Global Bank) and two of its subsidiaries for facilitating the Iranian regime’s access to the international financial system.

UANI has been warning Turkish banks for years about precisely these risks. A part of “Operation Economic Outcast,” Treasury has now shown the consequences 

Treasury’s action identifies Golden Global Bank as a financial conduit for Iran’s sanctions-evasion machinery, including the transfer of Iranian oil revenues and transactions benefiting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF). Treasury stated that Golden Global provided correspondent banking services to Iranian financial institutions and facilitated tens of millions of dollars in transactions for the IRGC-QF.

UANI has repeatedly raised concerns with Turkish banks about their exposure to Iran’s illicit financial networks. In May 2022, UANI publicly called on QNB Finansbank, Vakif Katilim Bankasi A.S., and Türkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi A.S. to clarify their relationships with Iranian entities implicated in sanctions evasion. UANI warned that Turkish financial institutions facilitating Iranian transactions warranted scrutiny from U.S. and Turkish authorities as well as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

UANI has also documented the broader role of Turkish businesses and financial channels in Iran’s sanctions-evasion apparatus. In its November 2022 Risky Business investigation into Istanbul-based ASB Group, UANI detailed the company’s alleged role in facilitating Iranian oil exports and activity connected to the IRGC-QF.

UANI Research Director Daniel Roth said:

“UANI has warned Turkish banks for years that the Islamic Republic’s sanctions-evasion networks are a trap. Treasury’s designation of Golden Global Bank shows that these warnings were not theoretical. A bank cannot provide the regime with access to the international financial system and expect there to be no consequences. Iran is a sanctions minefield and banks that facilitate Iranian sanctions evasion risk losing access to the U.S. financial system, facing severe financial penalties, and suffering lasting reputational damage.”

Treasury’s action comes as the United States intensifies efforts to dismantle the Iranian regime’s financial networks and target institutions that help Tehran evade sanctions. The designation of a Turkish bank demonstrates that these enforcement efforts extend beyond Iran itself to the international institutions that provide the regime with financial lifelines.

To read UANI’s May 2022 release regarding Turkish banks and Iran sanctions evasion, click here.

To read the letters UANI sent to the Turkish banks, click here. 

To view UANI’s resource on Iran’s global network of terror-affiliated banks, click here.