US sanctions law firm Karnakis and Karnakis, with an address in Piraeus, over Iran’s “shadow fleet” – Treasury also cites a probe of a possible Greek bank link

The US Department of the Treasury on Wednesday, October 21, imposed sanctions on the law firm Karnakis and Karnakis, based in Panama and Greece, for its role in Iran’s “shadow fleet”. According to the department’s announcement, the firm has for years supported illicit Iranian shipping, indirectly helping Tehran find revenue for its military, missile and nuclear programmes. The action is part of Operation “Economic Outcast”, announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on August 24.

“Whether you’re conducting illicit ship-to-ship transfers of oil at sea or sitting in the corner office of a law firm, if you support the Iranian regime we will find you and sanction you,” Bessent said. “Those who facilitate Iran must choose: you are either with us or against us. We know who you are, we know what you are doing, and we will continue to act.”

According to the US side, the firm set up shipping companies that own shadow-fleet vessels, which carried Iranian steel, oil and petrochemicals worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Among them are Skyros Maritime and Trading, Corfu Maritime and Trading and Elias Shipping and Trading Group, which had already been sanctioned. The last, owner of the RAMONA 1, is described as a front for Syria’s Al-Qatirji, which sold Iranian oil for the benefit of the IRGC Quds Force and the Houthis. The firm was also a corporate agent for companies of Iranian LPG magnate Seyed Asadollah Emamjomeh.

OFAC’s list adds the founders and owners Sofianos and Konstantinos Karnakis Kosmas, who hold Panamanian and Greek nationality, Ioannis Karnakis Kosmas and the Panamanians Pedro and Roberto Ortega Jones. The list gives the firm an address in Piraeus as well. Sanctions also hit Roxette Maritime Shipping and Trading, with an address on Iroon Polytechniou Avenue in Piraeus, manager of the Panama-flagged cargo ships ANEMOS, GLORIS, PRIDE, DESTINY, FLAMINGO 1, HARMONY and PRINCE. According to Washington, ANEMOS, GLORIS and PRIDE carried Iranian petrochemicals and steel over the past year.

The agents Amigoz Singapore in Singapore and Whales Shipping Line in Dubai were also listed. The Treasury says that FinCEN is working with European partners, Greece among them, and issued for the first time an administrative subpoena under the bank secrecy law for an investigation into possible links of a Greek bank to Iran and its allies. The department did not name the bank in the material reported.

In previous days Washington also targeted an Iraqi bank that was sending dollars to Iran, while in the Strait of Hormuz a tanker was hit by a projectile off Oman. The sanctions listing refers to individuals and companies, not to the Greek shipping sector as a whole.