US sanctions Iran

US sanctions Iran-linked Turkish bank

The US Treasury Department on Friday announced sanctions against an investment bank and its subsidiaries in Turkey, accusing them of facilitating funds for Iran.

The department says it has designated the Turkey-based Golden Global Bank and its subsidiaries as sanction targets for allegedly mediating financial transactions by the Iranian government.

It says the investment bank was established to transfer oil revenues from China to Iran.

The Treasury Department accuses the institutions of mediating deals worth tens of millions of dollars for the Quds Force, an external operations branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, "we will continue to take action together with our allies and partners until we have buried the head of the Iranian snake."

The move follows the department's announcement on August 28 that it will take measures to block a branch of an Egyptian state-run bank in the United Arab Emirates from doing dollar transactions with US financial institutions. The department accuses the bank of being a source of funding for Iran.

The administration of US President Donald Trump announced late last month that it has started imposing massive economic sanctions on companies and individuals that do business with Iran in an effort to isolate the country, shifting its focus to economic tightening in a bid to get Iran to make concessions.