The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Russia's state-controlled VTB Bank Public Joint Stock Company under Executive Order 13902, accusing it of helping Iran evade sanctions through correspondent relationships with sanctioned Iranian banks. Treasury said Russia's second-largest lender opened a Tehran office, helped move frozen Iranian assets and developed rial-ruble settlement channels for bilateral trade. The action, part of Operation Economic Outcast, adds Iran-related restrictions to sanctions VTB has faced since 2022. Treasury said the measure is expected to block at least tens of millions of dollars and warned foreign institutions that significant transactions involving VTB carry secondary-sanctions risk. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also announced a whistleblower program seeking information on those facilitating Iran's activities. Former U.S. Treasury sanctions official Miad Maleki said VTB's China operations have become an important channel for Russia-China trade and that Chinese banks dealing with VTB Shanghai could face Iran-related secondary-sanctions exposure.