US hits Russia’s VTB Bank with Iran-related sanctions over sanctions evasion
The U.S. Treasury has imposed Iran-related sanctions on VTB Bank, one of Russia’s largest financial institutions, accusing it of helping Tehran evade sanctions through ties with sanctioned Iranian banks and efforts to move billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated VTB under an executive order targeting Iran’s financial sector as part of Operation Economic Outcast, a U.S. campaign aimed at cutting off financial networks supporting Tehran.
According to Treasury, VTB has opened offices in Iran in recent years to deepen banking ties and facilitate trade between Russia and Iran. Over the past three years, it established correspondent banking relationships with sanctioned Iranian financial institutions and moved to expand its presence in Tehran beginning in January 2025.
The Russian bank also took steps to move billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets and created a settlement system using Russian rubles and Iranian rials through correspondent accounts, Treasury said.
The new designation increases the risk of secondary U.S. sanctions for foreign financial institutions that continue doing business with VTB. Treasury urged those institutions to cut off such relationships immediately.
VTB was already under U.S. sanctions over Russia. OFAC designated the bank in February 2022 over its links to the Russian government and again in January 2025 for operating in Russia’s financial services sector.
Treasury described VTB as now being “among the most comprehensively sanctioned financial institutions in the world.”
- Share: