US forces intercept sanctioned oil tanker tied to Venezuela in Indian Ocean

‘Vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine,’ says Pentagon as military forces boarded the Veronica III overnight

U.S. forces prepare to board the vessel Veronica III (via REUTERS)

US military forces have boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean, having tracked the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an operation targeting illicit oil linked to Venezuela, the Pentagon announced on Sunday.

Venezuela has been subject to US oil sanctions for several years, leading to its reliance on a 'shadow fleet' of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. Donald Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in December to exert pressure on then-President Nicolás Maduro, who was later apprehended in January during an American military operation.

The Defense Department confirmed via a post on X that US forces boarded the Veronica III overnight, executing "a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding."

The Pentagon stated: "The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine – hoping to slip away. We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down."

The Veronica III, a Panamanian-flagged vessel, is listed under US sanctions related to Iran, according to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control website. Video released by the Pentagon depicted US troops boarding the tanker.

The Trump administration has been seizing tankers as part of its wider efforts to take control of Venezuela's oil. However, the Pentagon's post did not specify whether the Veronica III had been formally seized and placed under US control.

This incident follows another boarding last week, when the US military intercepted the Aquila II, a different tanker, also in the Indian Ocean. That vessel is currently being held while its ultimate fate is determined by the United States, a defence official stated last week on condition of anonymity.

U.S. forces board the vessel Veronica III (via REUTERS)

The Aquila II was one of at least 16 tankers that departed the Venezuelan coast last month after US forces captured President Nicolás Maduro, according to Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship's movements.

The Aquila II is a Panamanian-flagged tanker under US sanctions related to the shipment of illicit Russian oil. Owned by a company with a listed address in Hong Kong, ship tracking data shows it has spent much of the last year with its radio transponder turned off, a practice known as “running dark” commonly employed by smugglers to hide their location.