BREAKING: Oil tanker successfully seized by US. The Department of Homeland Security led the operation with US military supporthttps://t.co/pqbtGQ5udb
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The United States has seized a Venezuela-linked oil tanker after a more than two-week-long pursuit across the Atlantic.
The move , which could stoke tensions with Russia, came after the Marinera ship, originally known as the Bella-1, slipped through a US maritime ‘blockade’ of sanctioned vessels and rebuffed US Coast Guard efforts to board it.
Officials, who were speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation, which has now been completed, was carried out by the Coast Guard and US military.
Pictures in Russian media purportedly showed a helicopter approaching the vessel today.
The chopper appears to be an American MH-6 Little Bird.
American officials added that the Russian military were in the general vicinity when the operation took place, including a Russian submarine.
The tanker is the latest to be targeted by the US Coast Guard since the start of Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuela.
Last month, the US Coast Guard attempted to board it in the Caribbean, armed with a warrant to seize the ship over alleged breaches of US sanctions and claims it had shipped Iranian oil.
However, the tanker then abruptly changed course, renamed itself Marinera and was added to an official Russian ship database
At one point while being pursued, the crew of the vessel painted a Russian flag on its hull, claiming it was sailing under Russian protection, and Moscow made a formal diplomatic request that the US stop its chase.
An oil tanker linked to both Russia and Venezuela has been seized by US forces in the Atlantic.
The US European Command, headquartered in Germany, confirmed today the seizure of the Marinera for ‘violations of US sanctions’.
It said in a statement on X: ‘The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro.’
This comes as part of Donald Trump’s aggressive push to dictate oil flows in America’s backyard.