Full Breakdown
Turkey Revokes Operating Licence of Iran’s Bank Mellat in Istanbul
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Licence Revocation and Legal Grounds
Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) announced, via the Official Gazette, that it has revoked the operating licence of Bank Mellat’s Istanbul central branch. The decision was taken under Article 71(1)(b) of Banking Law No. 5411, which allows the regulator to withdraw a licence when a bank’s continued operation is deemed a risk to depositors’ rights or to the security and stability of the financial system. The BRSA’s press release did not reference any specific operational deficiencies.
Sanctions Background Affecting Bank Mellat
Bank Mellat, a semi-private Iranian lender founded in 1980, has been subject to Western sanctions for more than a decade because of alleged support for Iran’s nuclear programme. Sanctions were temporarily lifted under the 2015 nuclear agreement, but the United States unilaterally withdrew from that deal in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions. In 2019 the United States and six Gulf states added Bank Mellat to a list of entities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The bank remains subject to sanctions from the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, according to the OpenSanctions database.
Recent U.S. Actions and Possible Linkage
Earlier this month the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi (Golden Global Bank) and two of its subsidiaries, accusing them of facilitating “tens of millions of dollars” in transactions for the IRGC-Qods Force and providing Iran with banking access to move funds internationally. Golden Global Bank has denied the accusations. In August, the Treasury announced additional measures targeting digital-asset exchanges and currency networks used by Tehran. Turkish officials have not explicitly connected the Bank Mellat licence revocation to these U.S. actions, though the timing follows the American sanctions on the Turkish investment bank.
Implications for Turkish-Iranian Financial Links
The revocation removes a major conduit for Iranian financial activity in Turkey, potentially limiting Iran’s ability to access international banking channels through Turkish institutions. For Turkey, the move signals heightened regulatory scrutiny of entities perceived as exposing the domestic financial system to geopolitical risk. It also reflects broader pressure from the United States on allies to curtail financial support for Iran’s IRGC and related programmes.