ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The US Treasury Department on Monday slapped sanctions on Russia’s VTB Bank over its alleged involvement in “Iranian sanctions evasion,” as Washington continues its efforts to hamper Iran’s economy.

The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated VTB “for its involvement in Iranian sanctions evasion, including establishing correspondent relationships with sanctioned Iranian banks,” the Treasury said in an article posted on its website.

The Russian bank “is now among the most comprehensively sanctioned financial institutions in the world,” the announcement added, warning that financial institutions dealing with the bank are now exposed “to even more sanctions risk than before and should cut off those relationships immediately.”

VTB already faces US sanctions imposed after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. New Iran-related sanctions could expose foreign banks and businesses dealing with the Russian lender to additional penalties.

VTB is a giant bank operating under VTB Group, a major Russian conglomerate uniting banks in several countries and offering a host of corporate banking services and products in Russia, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the US.

The bank itself has 22 branches and three representative offices in five different countries, including 13 different locations in Russia.

The Treasury in late August said it had proposed cutting Banque Misr UAE off from US banks and sanctioned the manager of Bank Melli’s Dubai branch, accusing both of helping Iran access the international financial system.

Earlier in August, the department announced new economic measures against Iran, expanding its Tehran-related secondary sanctions to target five “critical” sectors, to cut “every economic life” of the Islamic republic.

The latest measures come six months into the US-Iran conflict, which began in late February with a series of US-Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran’s leadership and its nuclear and missile programs, prompting retaliatory Iranian strikes across the region, before turning into economic warfare after Tehran restricted access to the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The Treasury has regularly sanctioned entities and individuals it accuses of facilitating the movement of foreign currency into Iran.