The U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions against Russia’s VTB Bank, accusing the institution of assisting Iran in accessing frozen assets and facilitating bilateral trade through currency settlement mechanisms. The move is part of the Trump administration's broader Operation Economic Outcast, which seeks to tighten economic pressure on Iran.

The Treasury stated that VTB has used correspondent accounts denominated in Iranian rials and Russian rubles to help move Iranian funds despite longstanding sanctions. According to officials, this activity undermines international efforts to restrict Iran’s financial operations and supports the Iranian regime’s continued economic resilience.

The sanctions add to existing measures against VTB, which was already targeted in 2022 and 2023 in response to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. By levying additional penalties, the U.S. aims to discourage other countries and financial institutions—including China—that maintain business ties with VTB from continuing those relationships, warning they may themselves face secondary sanctions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized the department’s commitment to exposing entities that enable Iran’s economic activities. “Treasury will not tolerate any support to the regime and will continue to identify, expose and isolate Iran’s enablers,” he said in a statement released on Monday.

This latest action comes amid a series of steps taken by the Treasury Department in recent weeks to cut off Iran from the global financial system. Most recently, the department targeted the United Arab Emirates branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr for allegedly facilitating Iran’s access to U.S. dollars.

While the Treasury has targeted Russia’s VTB Bank directly, it has so far refrained from imposing sanctions on Chinese banks still conducting business with Iran. Officials are engaging with international financial institutions this week to discuss strategies aimed at further choking off Iran’s revenue streams.

By expanding the scope of penalties against financial networks linked to Iran, the U.S. government underscores its intent to intensify efforts to contain Tehran’s economic reach while signaling to global financial markets that continued cooperation with sanctioned entities carries significant risk.