$1.8 BILLION MOVED THROUGH A DUBAI BANK BRANCH, TREASURY ALLEGES

🚨 $1.8 billion. That is what the U.S. Treasury says one bank branch in the UAE processed over the past two years for companies it links to Iran.

CNBC reports Treasury moved Friday to sanction the United Arab Emirates branch of Banque Misr, an Egyptian bank, over its financial ties to Iran.

The mechanism matters. Treasury says it intends to revoke the branch's access to U.S. financial institutions. That is not a fine. For any bank clearing dollars, losing that access is close to losing the ability to operate internationally.

According to Treasury, the $1.8 billion moved on behalf of roughly 100 companies potentially part of Iran's shadow banking network.

The timing is not accidental. The action comes four days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched "Operation Economic Outcast," a sanctions campaign aimed at severing all of Iran's economic ties around the world.

Bessent had told reporters on Monday that Treasury would make a major announcement of a financial institution being sanctioned by the end of the week.

These are Treasury's allegations. They have not been tested in court.

📉 The wider signal for global banking: a branch in one country can put an entire institution's dollar access in play.

Should banks be cut off from the dollar over what their branches process?

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