US Sanctions Three Turkish Financial Entities Over Iran Ties Under Operation Economic Outcast

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The United States Treasury Department sanctioned three Türkiye-based financial entities on Friday over their Iran-related dealings, in the latest escalation of Operation Economic Outcast's campaign to sever every financial lifeline sustaining the Islamic Republic, as Reuters and the Treasury's official website confirmed.

The three entities targeted are Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi Anonim Sirketi, Golden Global Varlik Kiralama Anonim Sirketi, and Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi, a portfolio management company, an asset leasing firm, and an investment bank, all based in Türkiye and all designated for their Iran-related financial activity. The Treasury Department also issued a general license allowing the wind-down of transactions with the sanctioned entities, providing a limited window for counterparties to exit their exposure before full sanctions enforcement takes effect.

The action represents a significant geographic expansion of Operation Economic Outcast's enforcement reach. The previous week, Washington moved to cut off Banque Misr UAE, the Egyptian lender's branch in the United Arab Emirates, from US dollar transactions over its dealings with Iran, after Treasury assessed that the institution had processed approximately $1.8 billion for 103 companies potentially linked to Iranian shadow banking networks between January 2024 and June 2026. The Friday designation of three Turkish financial entities extends that enforcement action from the UAE to Türkiye, a NATO member, demonstrating that Washington's sanctions campaign will not spare allied nations whose financial institutions are found to be facilitating Iranian transactions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced last month what he described as an "economic onslaught" against Iran's financial links around the world, and confirmed in an interview with Reuters on Sunday, August 31, 2026, that the Treasury Department is likely to roll out new secondary sanctions every week, initially focusing on banks, as part of a broader campaign to intensify economic pressure on Iran. Friday's Turkish designations represent the second weekly tranche of that accelerating sanctions cadence.

Bessent has said Washington is seeking to force Tehran back to the negotiating table through the combination of the naval blockade, the military "Tanker for Tanker" policy announced this week, and the relentless weekly expansion of financial sanctions targeting Iran's global network of banking, leasing, and investment intermediaries.

The targeting of Turkish financial entities carrying the Golden Global brand name is particularly notable given Türkiye's complex position in the current regional environment. Ankara is simultaneously a NATO ally, a founding member of the new Makkah Defense Alliance alongside Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, a participant in active diplomacy on the Syria and Lebanon files, and a country whose financial sector has now been explicitly targeted by Washington over Iran-related dealings. The previous week's Hezbollah sanctions had also named Turkish nationals and Türkiye-based exchange houses as central nodes in a cash courier network moving hundreds of millions of dollars to Hezbollah, making Friday's Golden Global designations the second consecutive week in which Turkish entities have appeared in American Iran-related sanctions actions.

The general license issued alongside the designations gives counterparties of the three Golden Global entities a defined period to wind down existing transactions, a standard Treasury practice designed to reduce market disruption while ensuring that ongoing Iranian financial activity through the targeted channels is ultimately terminated.