The US Department of the Treasury announced on Monday that it has imposed sanctions on VTB Bank, one of Russia's largest financial institutions, over its involvement in helping Iran evade sanctions and its ties to sanctioned Iranian banks.
The designation was announced by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as part of Operation Economic Outcast, an initiative aimed at cutting off financial channels used by the Iranian regime.
"Under Operation Economic Outcast, Treasury will continue to target and disrupt those who provide material, technological, or financial support that allows the Iranian regime to sustain its terrorist enterprise," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
"Treasury will not tolerate any support to the regime and will continue to identify, expose, and isolate Iran's enablers," he added.
According to the Treasury Department, VTB Bank has opened offices in Iran in recent years as part of efforts to strengthen banking coordination with the Iranian regime and expand trade between Russia and Iran.
Over the past three years, the bank established correspondent banking relationships with sanctioned Iranian financial institutions and, beginning in January 2025, took steps to expand its presence in Tehran.
The Treasury Department said VTB also took steps to move billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets and established a system for settling transactions in national currencies through correspondent accounts denominated in Iranian rials and Russian rubles, with the goal of increasing bilateral trade.
OFAC designated VTB pursuant to Executive Order 13902 for operating in the financial sector of the Iranian economy. The bank had previously been sanctioned by the US under authorities relating to Russia in February 2022 and January 2025.
The Treasury Department warned that foreign financial institutions continuing to conduct business with VTB following the latest designation face increased exposure to secondary sanctions and should immediately sever those relationships.
The move comes as Treasury officials are meeting this week with global financial institutions to provide information intended to help them shut down revenue streams and procurement networks linked to the Iranian regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's terrorist proxies, and entities assisting them.
Operation Economic Outcast was announced by Bessent on August 24 and dubbed "Economic D-Day." According to the Treasury Department, the operation seeks to sever the remaining economic channels sustaining the Iranian regime by targeting networks used to smuggle oil, evade sanctions, and finance terrorism.
The US is carrying out the campaign alongside partners across the US government as well as the European Union, United Kingdom, Gulf states, and others, the Treasury Department said.
The department has warned that entities facilitating money laundering or sanctions evasion for Iran risk being cut off from the US financial system, while foreign entities continuing to conduct business with the Iranian regime may face secondary sanctions.
Tuesday's designation follows recent Treasury actions targeting banks in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates as part of the same campaign.
As a result of the designation, property and interests in property belonging to VTB that are located in the United States or are held or controlled by US persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Entities owned 50 percent or more, directly or indirectly, by blocked persons are generally also blocked.
The Treasury Department further warned that financial institutions engaging in certain transactions involving VTB could face secondary sanctions, including restrictions on their ability to open or maintain correspondent or payable-through accounts in the United States.