The U.S. Treasury Department moved Friday to cut the United Arab Emirates branch of Egypt's Banque Misr off from the U.S. financial system, citing the bank's ties to Iran's shadow banking network. The action follows Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's launch of a sanctions campaign four days earlier aimed at severing Iran's economic links worldwide.
Treasury targets Banque Misr's UAE branch
The Treasury Department moved on Friday to sanction the UAE branch of Banque Misr, an Egyptian bank, over its financial ties to Iran. Treasury intends to revoke the branch's access to U.S. financial institutions, the department said in a statement.
Banque Misr UAE processed about $1.8 billion over the past two years for roughly 100 companies that Treasury says are potentially part of Iran's shadow banking network. Banque Misr is Egypt's second-largest bank. The move does not impose broad sanctions on the Egyptian banking sector and instead targets entities linked to sanctions evasion.
Part of a broader pressure campaign
The action comes four days after Bessent launched "Operation Economic Outcast," a sanctions campaign that aims to sever all of Iran's economic ties around the world. Bessent said Monday that Treasury would make a major announcement of a financial institution being sanctioned by the end of the week.
Treasury on Friday also blacklisted Iranian national Reza Mohammad Taeedi, general manager of the Dubai branch of Iran's Bank Melli, and sanctioned a Hong Kong entity, Kameng Trading Ltd., for allegedly acting as a front company that launders money for an Iranian exchange house.
Oil exports remain a pressure point
Iran's crude oil exports are a crucial source of its revenue, and China is its main customer. The U.S. Navy blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has slashed those exports, but tankers in Asia remain loaded with millions of barrels of Iranian oil waiting to discharge in China, according to Kpler.
Asked whether the U.S. would sanction Chinese institutions, according to CNBC, Bessent said: "no one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions." He added that any institution facilitating transactions that turn Iranian oil into money would be targeted.
Sources: CNBC, Crypto Briefing
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