US sanctions Karnakis and Karnakis law firm and seven Roxette ships over Iran trade

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated Karnakis and Karnakis, a law firm based in Panama and Greece, together with five people tied to it, a ship manager, two shipping agents and nine vessels, for their role in moving Iranian oil, petrochemicals and steel. The action of 21 October was taken under Executive Order 13902, which covers Iran's petroleum and petrochemical sectors, and forms part of what Treasury calls Operation Economic Outcast, launched on 24 August.

Treasury says the firm set up shipping companies that own shadow fleet vessels carrying hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian cargo. It was founded and is owned by Sofianos Karnakis Kosmas and Konstantinos Karnakis Kosmas, both dual Panamanian-Greek nationals. Both were designated, as were three employees: Ioanis Karnakis Kosmas, Pedro Ortega Jones and Roberto Ortega Jones. Treasury says Roberto Ortega Jones serves as a director or officer of many of the companies the firm registers, which obscures who really owns them.

Which ships are on the list?

The vessels belong to the fleet of Roxette Maritime Shipping and Trading S.A., which is based in Panama and Greece and uses Karnakis and Karnakis as its corporate agent. Roxette operates and manages the Panama-flagged Anemos, Gloris and Pride, which Treasury says have carried Iranian petrochemicals and steel within the past year. Four more Panama-flagged cargo ships under its management, Destiny, Flamingo 1, Harmony and Prince, were identified as blocked property in which Roxette has an interest.

Two shipping agents were also designated. Amigoz Singapore acted as agent for a shipment of light crude overseen by Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company and supplied bunkers to the shadow fleet LPG carrier Zixuan. Treasury links Amigoz to dark fleet operators, some of them tied to the shipping network of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani. Dubai-based Whales Shipping Line was designated for supporting Amigoz and for acting as shipping agent to Sparrow Trading FZE, an already sanctioned front company. Its two UAE-flagged small vessels, Whales Diamond and Whales Pearl, are blocked.

How does a law firm end up on the list?

Treasury points to the firm's earlier work. It set up Skyros Maritime and Trading, Corfu Maritime and Trading and Elias Shipping and Trading Group, all three previously designated for owning vessels in the Iranian oil trade. Elias Shipping owns the tanker Ramona I and, Treasury says, acted as a front for Al-Qatirji Company, a Syrian firm that sold millions of barrels of Iranian oil for the IRGC-Quds Force and the Houthis. Karnakis and Karnakis was also the corporate agent for many companies of the Iranian LPG trader Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh.

The designations come with a banking move. FinCEN, Treasury's financial-crimes unit, is working with European partners including Greece on an investigation into a Greek bank's possible ties to Iran and has issued its first administrative subpoena under the Bank Secrecy Act for it, the Treasury announcement says. "Iran's facilitators must make a choice: Either you are with us or against us," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 25 October 2026.