BREAKING: TREASURY SANCTIONS LAW FIRM BEHIND IRAN'S SHADOW FLEET

The US Treasury sanctioned Karnakis and Karnakis, a Panama- and Greece-based law firm that for years registered the shipping companies behind Iran's shadow fleet, according to a Treasury press release. Under Operation Economic Outcast, OFAC also designated two shipping agents, one in Singapore and one in the UAE, and a group of cargo vessels. Treasury says the firm set up companies OFAC had already designated, including Skyros Maritime and Elias Shipping, owner of the RAMONA 1, and that the vessels in its network shipped hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian steel, petroleum and petrochemicals. The shell companies were already on the list; now the firm that built them is too. Brent ($BNO) trades near $109 a barrel.