ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkey has revoked the operating license of Iran’s Bank Mellat over legal provisions concerning risks to depositors’ rights and the stability of the financial system, Turkish authorities announced Saturday, amid US pressure on financial institutions over alleged links to Tehran.

The Turkish Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA), the country’s banking regulator, said in a press release that it “has decided to revoke the operating license” of Bank Mellat’s Istanbul central branch.

The decision was made in accordance with Article 71(1)(b) of Banking Law No. 5411, according to the BRSA, which addresses activities that pose a risk to depositors’ rights and confidence in the financial system.

Headquartered in Tehran, the semi-private Bank Mellat is one of Iran’s largest commercial banks. It was established in 1980 through the merger of 10 banks that operated before the Islamic revolution in Iran.

The bank has been under Western sanctions for more than a decade over allegations that it supported Iran’s nuclear program. The sanctions were temporarily lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, but were reimposed after the US withdrew from the agreement in 2018.

Bank Mellat was also sanctioned by the US and six Gulf countries in 2019 after being accused of involvement in financially supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The move comes after the US imposed “Iran-related” sanctions on Turkey’s Golden Global Investment Bank and its subsidiaries earlier in September, accusing them of facilitating tens of millions of dollars in transactions for the IRGC.

Washington has intensified its economic campaign against Tehran. In August, the US Treasury Department announced a new set of measures targeting digital asset exchanges and currency networks that Tehran “relies on” to move and “launder” large sums of money.

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