U.S. Seizes 2 Sanctioned Oil Tankers Linked To Venezuela In North Atlantic And Caribbean
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States seized two sanctioned oil tankers bound for Venezuela in back-to-back actions in the North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, lifting sanctions to enable the transportation and sale of oil from the South American country to markets around the world, officials said Wednesday.
US European Command announced in a social media post that the commercial ship Bella 1 was seized for “violating US sanctions”. The USA had been following the tanker trying to escape the US blockade since last month. sanctioned oil vessels Around Venezuela.
Then, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that US forces also took control of the Sophia tanker in the Caribbean. In her social media post, Noem said that both ships “either last docked in Venezuela or were on their way to it.”
Noem said both ships were part of a large “ghost fleet” of sanctioned vessels carrying oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela to customers mostly in Asia, in defiance of Western sanctions.
The Trump administration is “selectively” lifting sanctions to enable the transportation and sale of Venezuelan oil to global markets, according to draft policies released Wednesday by the Energy Department.
Oil sales are planned to begin immediately, with the sale of 30 to 50 million barrels of oil from the South American country. The US government said the sales would “continue indefinitely”, with proceeds deposited into US-controlled accounts at “globally recognized banks”. The money will then be distributed to the US and Venezuelan people at the “discretion” of the Trump government.
The seizure of the two ships came just days after US military forces launched a surprise nighttime raid on the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Then-President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were capturedHe is the person President Donald Trump’s administration accuses of partnering with drug traffickers.
Since that raid, officials in Trump’s Republican administration have said they plan to continue seizing sanctioned ships bound for the country.
“We are following American law on oil sanctions,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC on Sunday. “We are going to court. We are getting a search warrant. We are seizing those boats full of oil. This will continue.”
The U.S. military seized Bella 1 and later turned control of it over to law enforcement, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
The ship was sanctioned by the United States in 2024 for allegedly smuggling cargo for a company linked to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group backed by Iran.
As it crossed the Atlantic on December 15 and was approaching the Caribbean, it suddenly turned and changed course northwards towards Europe. The change of direction came days later First tanker seizure in the USA After a ship named Skipper left Venezuela with a cargo of oil on December 10.
The U.S. Coast Guard attempted to board the ship in the Caribbean in December as it headed for Venezuela. The ship refused to board and sailed out into the Atlantic. U.S. European Command confirmed in a social media post that the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro was tracking the ship before it was seized “pursuant to an order issued by a U.S. federal court.”
According to maritime databases, during this time Bella 1 was renamed Marinera and marked for Russia. The US official also confirmed that the ship’s crew painted a Russian flag on the side of the hull.
Earlier on Wednesday, open-source marine monitoring sites showed its position between Scotland and Iceland heading north. The US official also confirmed that the ship was in the North Atlantic.
Flight tracking websites showed several U-28A US special operations aircraft landing at Wick John O’Groats airport at the northern tip of Scotland before flying further north towards Iceland on Wednesday. P8 Poseidon submarine hunting aircraft and KC-135 refueling aircraft were also seen on tracking sites heading towards the area near the tanker.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was “following with concern the abnormal situation developing around the Russian oil tanker Marinera” before the seizure.
Immediately following the news of the seizure, the Russian Ministry of Transport confirmed the boarding in a statement and noted that “no state has the right to use force against ships duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states”, citing the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Maduro appeared in court this week in New York, where he protested his capture and denied federal drug trafficking charges that the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power in Venezuela. Maduro’s lawyer said he expects to challenge the legality of the “military kidnapping.”
“I have been kidnapped here since Saturday, January 3,” Maduro told the court in Spanish on Monday. “I was caught at my home in Caracas.” ___
Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed to this report.
