ALBAWABA - On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Defense said that American military forces had tracked a sanctioned oil tanker from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, where they boarded it. Officials said this was part of a larger effort to stop illegal oil shipments linked to Venezuela.
The Pentagon says that U.S. forces boarded the ship Veronica 3 at night and followed what it called standard procedures for maritime visits, inspections, interdictions, and boarding. Officials said that the tanker tried to avoid being detained by orders from President Donald Trump.
"The vessel tried to defy the detention order, hoping to escape," the Pentagon said in a statement posted on X. It went on to say that U.S. forces followed the tanker as it moved through several maritime zones before intercepting it and stopping it in the Indian Ocean.
For years, the U.S. has put sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector. Allegedly, Venezuela has used a network of ships with fake flags, known as a "shadow fleet," to move crude oil into international markets.
In December, President Trump ordered the detention of sanctioned tankers to put more pressure on Nicolás Maduro, who was then President. Maduro was later arrested in January during a U.S. military operation.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) says that the Veronica 3, which flies the Panamanian flag, is subject to U.S. sanctions because of Iran.
The Pentagon has released video of American soldiers getting on the tanker. But defense officials didn't say for sure if the ship has been formally taken or put under U.S. control. The Pentagon told the Associated Press in a follow-up email that it had no more information than what was already in its public statement.
The interception is part of a larger plan by the U.S. to stop the flow of oil that is not allowed and make enforcement stricter in international waters.
