In a new round of sanctions against the Islamic Republic's shadow fleet on Wednesday 21 October 2026, the US Treasury placed the law firm "Karnakis & Karnakis", based in Panama and Greece, on its sanctions list together with five individuals, four entities and nine vessels. According to the Treasury, the law firm spent years creating front companies that owned ships carrying hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of the Islamic Republic's steel, oil and petrochemicals.
The action is part of an operation the Treasury calls "economic exclusion", launched on 24 August with the aim of cutting the Islamic Republic's last financial lifelines. The sanctions were imposed under Executive Order 13902, which targets the Islamic Republic's oil and petrochemical sector.
Who was sanctioned
Sofianos and Konstantinos Karnakis Kosmas, the firm's founders and owners, and Ioannis Karnakis Kosmas, one of its employees, are all Panamanian-Greek nationals. Pedro and Roberto Ortega Jones, two Panamanian employees of the firm, were also sanctioned; according to the Treasury, Roberto Ortega Jones was presented as director and official of dozens of companies registered by the firm so that their real owners would remain hidden.
According to the Treasury's statement, the firm had built the corporate structure of the shipping empire of Seyed Asadollah Emamjomeh, one of the major liquefied gas traders linked to the Islamic Republic. The same firm had created the front company "Elias" for the Syrian company Al-Qaterji, which according to the United States sold the Islamic Republic's oil for the Quds Force and the Houthis.
Three other entities were also sanctioned: the company "Roxet" in Panama and Greece, which manages seven Panama-flagged ships; the company "Amigos" in Singapore, which acted as port agent for a crude oil cargo linked to Sepehr Energy; and the company "Wills" in Dubai, which controls two UAE-flagged ships.
Pressure on European banks
At the same time, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued its first administrative subpoena under the Bank Secrecy Act to examine possible links between a Greek bank and the Islamic Republic and its proxy forces. The bank's name was not disclosed. FinCEN has also asked six other European banks for information about their relationships with sanctioned Islamic Republic banks.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that anyone who supports the Islamic Republic will be found and sanctioned, and that intermediaries must choose one side or the other.
Background to the economic siege
These sanctions are announced as, according to Bessent, no tanker has loaded at Kharg Island since August and the US naval blockade has sharply reduced the Islamic Republic's oil exports. Documents had also been published earlier about an Islamic Republic network's attempt to buy a German bank.
This time the United States has gone after the lawyers and company builders who construct the hidden structure of the Islamic Republic's shadow fleet.
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first.