OFAC Cuts Off a Turkish Bank and Two Subsidiaries Over Iran; the UN Amends Two ISIL Entries
On 4 September 2026 the United States designated Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi, an Istanbul investment bank with SWIFT code GOGYTRIS, and its asset leasing and portfolio management subsidiaries under Executive Order 13902, accusing the bank of moving Iranian oil revenue from China into Türkiye and of offering correspondent accounts to Iranian institutions on behalf of the IRGC-Qods Force. A wind-down licence runs to 19 September. The same day the UN's ISIL and Al-Qaida Committee amended the entries for ISIL-K leader Sanaullah Ghafari and East Africa facilitator Abubakar Swalleh. Three designations, two amendments, one licence. Treasury's account of Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi is specific. The bank, established in October 2019 and trading as Golden Global Investment Bank, was set up so that Iran's rahbar network could transfer oil revenues from China to Türkiye, where rahbar money exchangers converted them into cash and gold. It is said to have knowingly offered correspondent banking services to Iranian financial institutions, enabling transactions through accounts controlled by the IRGC-Qods Force and its proxies, among them the companies of Turkish businessman Sitki Ayan, whose network was sanctioned in 2022 for moving hundreds of millions of dollars of IRGC-QF oil sales.
This issue
- New designations
- 3
- Removals
- 0
- Entries amended
- 2
- Sources monitored
- 85
Operation Economic Outcast Reaches Istanbul: Golden Global Bank Loses Dollar Access
Treasury's account of Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi is specific. The bank, established in October 2019 and trading as Golden Global Investment Bank, was set up so that Iran's rahbar network could transfer oil revenues from China to Türkiye, where rahbar money exchangers converted them into cash and gold. It is said to have knowingly offered correspondent banking services to Iranian financial institutions, enabling transactions through accounts controlled by the IRGC-Qods Force and its proxies, among them the companies of Turkish businessman Sitki Ayan, whose network was sanctioned in 2022 for moving hundreds of millions of dollars of IRGC-QF oil sales. OFAC designated the bank under Executive Order 13902 for operating in the financial sector of the Iranian economy and for knowingly engaging, on or after 10 January 2020, in a significant transaction for goods or services used in connection with that sector, and published its SWIFT/BIC GOGYTRIS, Turkish tax and registration numbers and Legal Entity Identifier. Its two Istanbul subsidiaries, Golden Global Varlik Kiralama, an asset leasing company formed in August 2022, and Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi, a portfolio manager formed in January 2025, are designated for being owned or controlled by the bank.
Iran General Licence CC authorises transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to the wind-down of dealings with the three parties, and with any entity they own at 50 per cent or more, through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on 19 September 2026, provided any payment to a blocked person goes into a blocked, interest-bearing account in the United States. Secretary Bessent's statement that banks "continue to find out the hard way" about Operation Economic Outcast, announced on 24 August, signals that further financial institutions are in scope. Separately, on 4 September the Security Council's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee amended two entries (SC/16446). For Abubakar Swalleh (QDi.436), the Ugandan ISIL facilitator held at Luzira Prison, the alias Isaac Mupeta moves from low to good quality and a Zambian national identification number issued under that name in 2020, recorded by the Committee as fraudulently acquired, is added. For Sanaullah Ghafari (QDi.431), the leader of ISIL-K, the Committee records a new amendment date but marks no other field as changed; the exact old and new values for both entries are reproduced below and in the detailed report. All measures on both men remain in force.
Party detail
Every row below was read against the issuing authority's own notice, not against a press report. Aliases are reproduced in full, including non Latin script forms, because the alias field is where a screening run usually fails. Identifiers are published sanctions data.
| Party | Action and instrument | Identifiers | Grounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi | DesignationExecutive Order 13902, Imposing Sanctions With Respect to Additional Sectors of Iran [IRAN-EO13902] | Identifier: SWIFT/BIC GOGYTRISIdentifier: website www.goldenglobalbank.com.trIdentifier: organisation established 15 Oct 2019Identifier: target type: financial institutionTax ID: 3961233191 (Turkey)Identifier: Legal Entity Number 789000LV7F75LALJ3F52Registration number: 213202 (Turkey)Address: N:127 B-17 Esentepe Mahallesi, Buyukdere Caddesi, Sisli, Istanbul 34394, Turkey | Designated on 4 September 2026 under Executive Order 13902 for operating in the financial sector of the Iranian economy and for having knowingly engaged, on or after 10 January 2020, in a significant transaction for the sale, supply or transfer to or from Iran of significant goods or services used in connection with that sector. Treasury states that the bank was established to enable Iran's rahbar network to transfer oil revenues from China to Türkiye, where they could be converted into cash and gold by rahbar money exchangers, and that it knowingly offered correspondent banking services to Iranian financial institutions, enabling transactions through accounts controlled by the IRGC-Qods Force and its proxies, including those of Turkish businessman Sitki Ayan and his companies, a network sanctioned in 2022 for moving hundreds of millions of dollars of IRGC-QF oil sales. The action is part of Operation Economic Outcast, announced on 24 August 2026. |
| Golden Global Varlik Kiralama Anonim Sirketi | DesignationExecutive Order 13902, Imposing Sanctions With Respect to Additional Sectors of Iran [IRAN-EO13902] | Website: https://goldenglobalvks.com.tr/Identifier: organisation established 1 Aug 2022Identifier: organisation type: financial and insurance activitiesTax ID: 3961486674 (Turkey)Identifier: Legal Entity Number 789000S50A0J8E8FKE55Registration number: 396200 (Turkey)Address: Astoria Blok IC Kapi No 17, N: 127 B-17 Esentepe Mahallesi, Buyukdere Caddesi, Sisli, Istanbul, Turkey | Designated on 4 September 2026 under Executive Order 13902 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi. Treasury describes it as one of two Istanbul-based subsidiaries the bank controls. OFAC's 50 per cent rule would in any case extend the blocking to it as a majority-owned entity of a blocked person. |
| Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi Anonim Sirketi | DesignationExecutive Order 13902, Imposing Sanctions With Respect to Additional Sectors of Iran [IRAN-EO13902] | Website: https://goldenglobalportfoy.com.tr/Identifier: organisation established 15 Jan 2025Identifier: organisation type: financial and insurance activitiesTax ID: 3961688364 (Turkey)Identifier: Legal Entity Number 789000J1YGZ3PLCXMQ38Registration number: 1063899 (Turkey)Address: Astoria D:21, N: 127A Esentepe Mahallesi, Buyukdere Caddesi, Sisli, Istanbul, Turkey | Designated on 4 September 2026 under Executive Order 13902 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi. Treasury describes it as the second of the bank's two Istanbul-based subsidiaries; it was established on 15 January 2025, less than two years before the designation. |
| Sanaullah Ghafari | AmendmentISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List; assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo under paragraph 1 of resolution 2734 (2024) | Date of birth: 28 Oct 1994; alternatively 24 May 1990Nationality: AfghanistanIdentifier: Title Dr.Identifier: place of birth Mir Bacha Kot District, Kabul Province, AfghanistanIdentifier: passport Afghanistan number O1503093, issued 25 Aug 2016 in Kabul (expired 25 Aug 2021)Identifier: no national identification number publishedIdentifier: father's name Abdul JabbarIdentifier: grandfather's name Abdul GhaffarIdentifier: photo available for the INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special NoticeAddress: Afghanistan (2021); Kunduz, Afghanistan (previous) | Listed on 21 December 2021 under paragraphs 2 and 4 of resolution 2368 (2017) as associated with ISIL or Al-Qaida for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of or in support of, supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to, and recruiting for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan (ISIL-K). The Committee's narrative summary records him as ISIL-K's leader since June 2020, appointed by the ISIL core, responsible for approving all ISIL-K operations in Afghanistan and arranging their funding, and for attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan that caused hundreds of deaths in 2021. On 4 September 2026 the Committee recorded a further amendment to the entry; the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo are unchanged. |
| Abubakar Swalleh | AmendmentISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List; assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo under paragraph 1 of resolution 2734 (2024) | Date of birth: 13 Jan 1992; alternatively 16 Mar 1993Nationality: UgandaIdentifier: Place of birth Mengo, UgandaIdentifier: passport Uganda number A00195974, expires 16 Dec 2029Identifier: national identification number Uganda CM920231090NZAIdentifier: national identification number Zambia Z15105123, issued 5 Aug 2020 (fraudulently acquired under the name Isaac Mupeta, born 9 May 1993 in Lusaka, Zambia, registration number 102523/29/1)Identifier: telephone +963936016952Identifier: gender maleIdentifier: photo available for the INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice (2025-47413)Address: Luzira Prison, Luzira, Kampala, Uganda | Listed on 16 June 2025 as an ISIL facilitator who provides financial, material or technological support for, or financial or other services to or in support of, ISIL (listed as Al-Qaida in Iraq, QDe.115); since 2018 he has provided financial and logistic support, including recruitment, for ISIL in East and Southern Africa. On 4 September 2026 the Committee upgraded the alias Isaac Mupeta from low to good quality and added a Zambian national identification number issued under that name in 2020, which it records as fraudulently acquired. He is held at Luzira Prison, Kampala. The assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo are unchanged. |
What this means for your organisation
- 01
Load the three Golden Global parties today and screen SWIFT GOGYTRIS as well as the names: Key the BIC into payment filters and correspondent-banking controls, not only the customer file, and capture the Turkish tax numbers, registration numbers and Legal Entity Identifiers OFAC published so that near-name Turkish companies are not confused with the designated group.
- 02
Wind down, do not continue: General Licence CC expires at 12:01 a.m. EDT on 19 September: Only transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to closing out existing dealings are authorised, any payment to a blocked person must go into a blocked interest-bearing account in the United States, and the licence covers no other E.O. 13902 party.
- 03
Read the secondary sanctions warning as directed at correspondent banks: Treasury says it will keep identifying the banks that give Iran dollar access under Operation Economic Outcast; institutions with Turkish correspondent relationships should test exposure to the Golden Global group and to the Sitki Ayan and rahbar networks named in the release.
- 04
Re-key Abubakar Swalleh's record with the upgraded alias and the Zambian identity number: Isaac Mupeta is now a good-quality alias and Zambia Z15105123 is a listed identifier recorded as fraudulently acquired; treat any Zambian document in that name as a match signal rather than a mismatch, and refresh the Uganda passport and prison address.
- 05
Record the Ghafari amendment date without inventing a change: The Committee marks only the new amendment date on QDi.431; update the last-amended field and keep every other value as it stands. Twenty-four registers were not retrieved this cycle and are carried forward, not cleared.
Where this issue came from
The map plots the sources Youverify monitors. The pulsing markers are the one authorities cited in this issue: OFAC. Hover any marker to name the sources read there.
Method statement
Parties are taken from the issuing authorities' list data and notices as recorded in the Youverify Sanctions Monitor of 7 September 2026, one row per party. Website copy for this archive edition is compiled from that day's published briefing.
Corrections
No corrections issued for this issue. Corrections are published on the issue they affect, dated, with the original text retained.Cite this issue
Vyra from Youverify. "OFAC Cuts Off a Turkish Bank and Two Subsidiaries Over Iran; the UN Amends Two ISIL Entries." Youverify Sanctions Monitor, issue 119, 7 September 2026. https://youverify.co/en/sanctions/2026-09-07. Accessed 7 September 2026.