Law Firms, Shipping Agents, and Vessels Helped Conceal and Transport Iranian Commodities
WASHINGTON-Today, as part of Operation Economic Outcast, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned Panama- and Greece-based law firm Karnakis and Karnakis, which has supported illicit Iranian shipping activity for years, indirectly aiding Tehran’s ability to generate revenue to fund its military, weapons, and nuclear programs. Throughout Operation Economic Outcast, Treasury has continued to coordinate with counterparts in Europe and around the world to sever the Iranian regime’s remaining economic lifelines.
“Whether you are conducting illegal oil transfers at sea or sitting in the corner office of a law firm, if you are supporting the Iranian regime, we will find you and sanction you,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Iran’s facilitators must make a choice: Either you are with us or against us. We know who you are, we know what you’re doing, and we will continue to take action.”
Treasury today also sanctioned Singapore- and UAE-based shipping agents that directly aid Iranian shadow fleet operations. Today’s actions strike not only the legal and maritime facilitators that sustain Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks, but also a fleet of cargo vessels that has helped generate substantial revenue for the Iranian regime.
The designations imposed today are being taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13902, which targets the Iranian petroleum and petrochemical sectors, among other key sectors of the Iranian economy.
FinCEN is acting in close coordination with European partners, including in Greece, and leveraging existing legal authorities, such as its first issuance of an administrative subpoena pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 5318(k) of the Bank Secrecy Act, to advance its investigation into a Greek bank’s potential ties to Iran and its proxies. Additionally, FinCEN has issued multiple requests for information concerning banks’ relationships with OFAC-designated Iranian financial institutions.
OPERATION ECONOMIC OUTCAST IS ISOLATING THE IRANIAN REGIME
Announced by Secretary Bessent on August 24, 2026 and dubbed Economic D-Day, Operation Economic Outcast is severing the remaining economic lifelines that sustain the Iranian regime. Treasury has mapped the networks, facilitators, and financial channels that Iran uses to smuggle oil, evade sanctions, and fund terror. Working with partners across the U.S. government, the European Union, United Kingdom, Gulf partners, and others, Treasury is targeting any source of the regime’s illicit revenue, as well as its sanctions evasion schemes to move funds.