US Treasury revokes 'critical node' of Iranian access to US dollars in latest Tehran sanctions

The US Treasury Department proposed on Friday to revoke Banque Misr UAE’s correspondent banking access to US financial institutions, calling it a “critical node” in the Iranian regime’s access to US dollars. 

The proposal is part of Operation Economic Outcast, a broader effort by the US government to sever remaining “financial lifelines” sustaining the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the department had “promised to sever every economic lifeline Tehran has left and finally end the threat of the Iranian regime.”

“We also warned that Iran’s enablers cannot continue to enjoy access to the US dollar and the global financial system,” he continued. “Banque Misr UAE decided to find out the hard way, and today, we are taking the first step in holding it accountable for its continued, egregious support of the Iranian regime.”

The US Treasury estimates that Banque Misr UAE processed “approximately $1.8 billion for 103 companies that are potentially part of Iranian shadow banking networks,” the statement said, an avenue that Iran has taken following direct US sanctions on the regime.

Shadow networks provide “key access to US dollar correspondent banking relationships,” the Treasury said. “Iran uses these shadow banking networks to launder funds, procure weapons, and bankroll its regional terrorist proxy groups.”

Banque Misr is one of Egypt’s oldest and largest banks, founded in 1920 to facilitate trade between Egypt and the UAE and serve Egyptian expatriates in the Gulf.

Treasury: Front companies include those used by IRGC, Iran's Defense Ministry

Its customers, according to the US Treasury, include “apparent front companies used by Iran’s Ministry of Defense and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to evade US sanctions, as well as to launder money on behalf of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.” 

A Treasury official said the action only applies to Banque Misr's UAE branches, allowing the bank to continue dollar transactions through its head office in Cairo and other foreign branches. These include Paris, Frankfurt, Riyadh, Beirut and Djibouti, according to Banque Misr's website.

Egypt's central bank said on Friday that the US action only affected Banque Misr's UAE branches and did not extend to any other Egyptian banks. The Central Bank of Egypt said in a statement that it and Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs were in contact with the US authorities about the measures.

The Treasury also announced on Friday new sanctions against Bank Melli, alleging it has facilitated “billions of dollars’ worth of transactions through accounts controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF)” and has “allowed the IRGC-QF and its parent organization, the IRGC, to move funds inside and outside of Iran.”

Additionally, the bank has funded Iranian-aligned proxies and partners such as Iraq, the statement added.

Reza Mohammad Taeedi, the general manager of the bank’s Dubai branch, was identified as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist “for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Bank Melli,” according to the statement.

Hong Kong-based Kameng Trading Limited was also sanctioned on Friday for helping sanctioned Iranians access the international financial system, the Treasury said.

Sanctions follow crackdown on 'far-left terrorist networks'

The sanctions come two days after the Treasury cracked down on what it called “far-left terrorist networks,” with a new wave of sanctions against Italy’s Autistici Inventati, Palestine Action, a UK-based organization designated by the British government as a terrorist group in 2025, and transnational group Masar Badil.

The Treasury accused Autistici Inventati of supplying “specialized digital architecture, tools, and services for Antifa cells and other violent far-left extremists, including a foreign terrorist organization” and Masar Badil of operating “as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

“Far-left extremists, their fronts, and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” said Bessent. “Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”

The US identified far-left terrorist groups as one of the three major terrorist threats that the country faces today.

In July, Bessent warned of far-left terrorists “increasingly embracing organized, deadly violence in pursuit of their objectives,” and said that the Treasury’s actions reinforce the US’s commitment to disrupting the groups’ infrastructure.