From Golden Global to Bank Mellat: Turkey's Iran banking purge

Turkey has revoked the operating license of Iran's Bank Mellat, according to a notice published early Saturday in the official gazette.

The decision, taken by Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA), comes two weeks after Washington imposed sanctions on a Turkish bank over its alleged ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It was not immediately clear whether the two developments were directly linked.

The regulator's decision ends Bank Mellat's lending activities in Turkey after more than four decades, revoking the license of its main Istanbul branch.

The BRSA cited article 71b of Turkey's banking law, which allows a license to be withdrawn if a bank's continued operation "poses a threat to the rights of depositors and participation fund holders and to the security and stability of the financial system." The notice did not directly reference US sanctions or cite any specific operational issues.

Based in Tehran, Bank Mellat is subject to US, EU and UK sanctions over its alleged "financial support to the Iranian government," according to OpenSanctions, an open-source database tracking sanctioned individuals and entities.

The bank is one of Iran's largest financial institutions, with roughly 47.9 quadrillion Iranian rials (about $34.8 billion) in total assets as of March 2026, according to Iranian financial data provider Shakhesban.

Earlier this month, on September 4, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Turkey's Golden Global Bank over its alleged ties to the Revolutionary Guards - a move Washington's ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, described as targeting "one entity, not a nation, not a banking system, and not an ally."

Days later, the BRSA placed Golden Global's shareholder stakes under the control of Turkey's Savings Deposit Insurance Fund. Washington has also widened sanctions on Iran's aviation sector, targeting dozens of entities, including Turkish companies accused of supporting Iranian carriers such as Mahan Air.

The move comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly.