Turkiye revokes operating licence of Iran’s Bank Mellat in Istanbul

Turkey's banking regulator, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), has revoked the operating licence of Bank Mellat’s Istanbul central branch, a decision that was published in the Official Gazette on Saturday. The regulator said it acted under a provision of Turkish banking law that permits licence withdrawal when a bank's continued activity is judged to threaten depositors' rights or the broader stability and security of the financial system. Bank Mellat, whose head office is in Tehran, has been subject to Western sanctions for years. Those measures originated from accusations that Iran pursued a nuclear weapons programme under the cover of a civilian nuclear effort; many sanctions were lifted after the 2015 nuclear agreement but the United States exited the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. In 2019 the lender faced additional US and Gulf restrictions after being identified among entities linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Turkish notice announcing the licence revocation did not reference US sanctions or specify particular operational failings by the bank. The decision follows other recent US enforcement actions targeting Turkish financial firms: earlier this month the US Treasury sanctioned a small Turkish investment bank and two subsidiaries for allegedly facilitating millions of dollars in transactions for the IRGC-Qods Force. The Turkish investment bank named in those measures denied the accusations.