The Trump administration put sanctions on Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi, a Turkish bank.

It called the bank a "critical financial lifeline" for Iran.

This action is part of "Operation Economic Outcast," a new U.S. effort.

The goal is to separate Iran from its trading partners.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent started this operation last week.

The Treasury Department said the Istanbul-based bank was created to help Iran move oil money from China to Turkey.

There, the money could be turned into cash and gold.

The bank also knowingly gave services to Iranian financial groups.

Some of these groups were sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022.

Bessent said financial institutions tied to Iran "will continue to find out the hard way that we are serious."

He added that more sanctions depend on whether other countries stop supporting the "murderous Iranian regime."

However, the larger effort to force Iran's trading partners to cut ties has had little effect so far.

The U.S. has avoided punishing big partners like China and India.

Instead, it has given warnings and held talks.

The sanctions came one day after Turkey's state-run Halkbank settled a nine-year U.S. case about Iran sanctions violations.

In that case, officials reportedly moved about $20 billion in Iranian oil money.

The U.S. also recently started military strikes on Iran again.

But the result of this two-part strategy is still unclear.