The United States seized a Russian-linked oil tanker in the North Atlantic after pursuing it from off the coast of Venezuela, officials said on Wednesday, in an operation condemned by Moscow.
Washington says the tanker is part of a shadow fleet that carries oil for Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions, and seized it despite the ship being escorted by the Russian navy.
The vessel had thwarted an earlier attempt to board it last month near oil-rich Venezuela, where a US raid over the weekend toppled the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, a close ally of Moscow.
“The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court,” US European Command, which oversees American forces in the region, said in a statement on X.
As Washington adopts a more assertive foreign policy under President Donald Trump, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted that the US blockade on Venezuelan oil was in full effect “anywhere in the world.”
But Russia’s transport ministry criticised the seizure, saying “freedom of navigation applies in waters on the high seas”.
Its foreign ministry urged Washington to allow the swift return of Russian crew members from the ship, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists that they may be taken to the US for prosecution.
The vessel, formerly known as the Bella-1, in recent weeks switched its registration to Russia, changed its name to the Marinera and the tanker’s crew reportedly painted a Russian flag on the tanker.
Leavitt said Washington deemed the ship to be stateless.
US seizes second sanctioned tanker
The US military also announced a second sanctioned tanker had been seized in the Caribbean Sea, bringing the total number of ships Washington has taken control of since last month to four.
Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem posted on X that both vessels “were either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it,” and included a video of armed US forces roping down from a helicopter onto an unidentified ship.
The North Atlantic operation came despite Russia reportedly sending a submarine and other naval assets to escort the tanker.
It had been heading to Venezuela before it evaded the US blockade, and has been under US sanctions since 2024 over alleged ties to Iran and Hezbollah.
Last weekend, US special forces captured Maduro and his wife from Caracas and flew them to New York to face trial on drug charges.
Since then, Trump has said that the US will run Venezuela and US companies will control its critical oil industry.
Brian Finucane, of the International Crisis Group, said the seizure of ships fitted the “overarching theme, both with respect to Venezuela and how this president approaches foreign policy in general, of taking the oil, quite literally in this case”.
White House not ‘winging it’ in Venezuela, secretary of state argues
After criticism from lawmakers, secretary of state Marco Rubio insisted the US had a plan for Venezuela, saying the White House was “not just winging it”.
Trump said on Tuesday (local time) that 30-50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude will be shipped to US ports, with the revenue — perhaps more than US$2 billion ($2.9 billion) at current market prices — placed under his personal control.
US energy secretary Chris Wright added the following day that Washington will control sales of Venezuelan oil indefinitely.
Leavitt said proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan crude will go to US-controlled accounts and then “will be dispersed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people”.
Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez — a long-time member of Maduro’s inner circle — has vowed cooperation with the US amid fears that Trump could pursue wider regime change, and Leavitt said the country’s decisions would now be “dictated” by Washington.
