ISTANBUL, March 10, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Turkey's Halkbank said it had reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to settle a years-long criminal case against the state-run bank over violating sanctions on Iran.

Under the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement, the bank "will not admit to any criminal offences, nor will it pay any judicial or administrative fines", the bank said on X late Monday.

The move effectively seeks to draw a line under a case that has been a source of long-running tension between Washington and Ankara.

US prosecutors hit Halkbank with criminal charges in 2019 over suspicions it was involved in a years-long scheme to launder billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil and natural gas proceeds in violation of sanctions on Tehran.

"Following the submission of a compliance report", Halkbank and the US attorney's office in New York will submit a joint letter to the court "requesting the dismissal of the case," the statement said.

"With the court's approval, the criminal case against our bank in the US... will be concluded," it added.

The Turkish bank said it had been informed by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is responsible for enforcing sanctions, "that it has closed the administrative proceedings against Halkbank without taking any further action".