US military seizes two oil tankers linked to Venezuela in North Atlantic and Caribbean, officials say

The United States carried out operations on Wednesday to seize two oil tankers linked to Venezuela, one in the North Atlantic and another in the Caribbean Sea, officials said.

The United States European Command confirmed the seizure of the Marinera, a Venezuela-linked oil tanker formerly known as Bella-1. It said the ship was seized for violations of US sanctions and pursuant to an order issued by a US federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro.

Two Defense Department officials told News themezone that Navy SEALs seized the tanker. They were flown by service members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as “Night Stalkers.”

The United States has been tracking the tanker since last month, and News themezone was the first to do so. reported Monday that U.S. forces planned to intercept it. The persecution began during a pressure campaign against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who caught by US forces last weekend. Last month the United States seized two more oil tankers.

U.S. officials also announced Wednesday that “an authorized, stateless dark fleet tanker” was seized before dawn in the Caribbean. The US Southern Command said in a post on X that the intercepted ship, M/T Sophia, was “conducting illicit activities” and operating in international waters.

Two U.S. officials told News themezone that the Sophia was flying the flag of Cameroon and left Venezuela with oil on board. The United States considered that the ship violated its embargo on Venezuela. Officials said the United States has full control of the ship and that no American personnel were injured in the operation. The US Coast Guard was escorting the ship to the US “for final disposition,” according to US Southern Command.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristin Noem, who posted a video of one of the interceptions on social media, described the operations as “consecutive” and “meticulously coordinated,” adding that the ships last docked in Venezuela or were headed there.

La Marinera, formerly Bella-1

The Marinera, which has historically transported Venezuelan crude oil and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department, was sailing under the Russian flag. Previously it had the flag of Panama. Like other seized tankers, it was sanctioned by US authorities for its previous involvement in the Iranian oil trade.

A Russian submarine and other warships were deployed to escort the tanker as the United States followed it, two U.S. officials confirmed to News themezone on Tuesday.

Noem said the tanker “has been trying to evade the Coast Guard for weeks, even changing its flag and painting a new name on its hull while being pursued, in a desperate and failed attempt to escape justice.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the tanker a vessel in the Venezuelan shadow fleet. “The ship was deemed stateless after flying a false flag,” he said.

Russia responded to the seizure, with its Transport Ministry saying Wednesday on the messaging platform Telegram that the ship had been “granted a temporary permit to sail under the state flag of the Russian Federation, issued in accordance with Russian legislation and the norms of international law.”

“In accordance with the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the high seas are governed by the principle of freedom of navigation and no State has the right to use force against ships duly registered under the jurisdiction of other States,” the ministry said.

The ministry said US naval forces boarded the Marinera at 3pm Moscow time on Wednesday and communication with the ship was subsequently lost.

The Russian Shipping Register of Shipping indicates that the tanker was transported from Sochi, off the western coast of the Black Sea. The New York Times reported that the Russian government had officially asked the United States to stop all attempts to intercept the ship.

The two officials familiar with the plans to seize the Marinera said earlier this week that the United States would rather seize the ship than sink it and that the operation could be similar to one conducted last month when U.S. Marines and special operations forces working with the U.S. Coast Guard captured the captaina large Guyana-flagged crude oil tanker, after the vessel had departed from a port in Venezuela.

Ships like Marinera and The Skipper are part of the so-called shadow fleet of ships that illegally transport oil from sanctioned nations such as Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

Maduro has rejected US accusations about how the ships are being used and accuses the United States of looting Venezuelan resources under the protection of law enforcement.