U.s. Military Boards Oil Tanker In Indian Ocean After Tracking It From The Caribbean

WASHINGTON — U.S. subject forces boarded different sanctioned tanker successful nan Indian Ocean aft search nan alloy from nan Caribbean Sea successful an effort to target illicit lipid connected to Venezuela, nan Pentagon said Sunday.

Venezuela had faced U.S. sanctions connected its lipid for respective years, relying connected a protector fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into world proviso chains. President Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers successful December to unit then-President Nicolás Maduro earlier Maduro was apprehended successful January during an American subject operation.

Several tankers fled nan Venezuelan seashore successful nan aftermath of nan raid, including nan vessel that was boarded successful nan Indian Ocean overnight. The Defense Department said successful a station connected X that U.S. forces boarded nan Veronica III, conducting “a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding.”

“The alloy tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine — hoping to gaffe away,” according to a connection released by nan Pentagon. “We tracked it from nan Caribbean to nan Indian Ocean, closed nan distance, and unopen it down.”

Video posted by nan Pentagon shows U.S. troops boarding nan tanker.

The Veronica III is simply a Panamanian-flagged alloy nether U.S. sanctions related to Iran, according to nan website of nan Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The Veronica III near Venezuela connected Jan. 3, nan aforesaid time arsenic Maduro’s capture, pinch astir 2 cardinal barrels of crude and substance oil, TankerTrackers.com posted Sunday connected X.

“Since 2023, she’s been progressive pinch Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil,” nan statement said.

Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, told nan Associated Press successful January that his statement utilized outer imagery and surface-level photos to archive that astatine slightest 16 tankers near nan Venezuelan seashore successful contravention of nan quarantine.

The Trump management has been seizing tankers arsenic portion of its broader efforts to return power of Venezuela’s oil. The Pentagon did not opportunity successful nan station whether nan Veronica III was formally seized and placed nether U.S. control, and later told nan AP successful an email that it had nary further accusation to supply beyond that post.

Last week, nan U.S. subject boarded a different tanker successful nan Indian Ocean, nan Aquila II. The vessel was being held while its eventual destiny was decided by nan United States, according to a defense charismatic who said past week connected information of anonymity to talk ongoing decision-making.

Finley writes for nan Associated Press. AP writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.