US Military Boards Sanctioned Oil Tanker in Indian Ocean After Pursuit from Caribbean
The US military boarded a sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the ship from the Caribbean Sea as part of an oil quarantine meant to squeeze Venezuela, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday.
Venezuela had faced U.S. sanctions on its oil and relied on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. Following the U.S. raid to apprehend then-President Nicolás Maduro in early January, several tankers fled the Venezuelan coast, including the ship that was boarded in the Indian Ocean overnight.
Hegseth vowed to eventually capture all those ships, telling a group of shipyard workers in Maine on Monday that “the only guidance I gave to my military commanders is none of those are getting away.” He added, “I don’t care if we got to go around the globe to get them; we’re going to get them.”
US Military Strikes Another Vessel Accused of Trafficking Drugs
Later Monday, the U.S. military said it had carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The U.S. Southern Command said the strike killed two people, while one person survived. The command said it had notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate its search and rescue system for the survivor. A video linked to the post shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames.
Monday’s attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats to 130 people.
US Seizes Another Tanker as Part of Broader Efforts to Control Venezuela’s Oil
The Trump administration has seized seven tankers as part of its broader efforts to take control of the South American country’s oil. Unlike those previous actions, the Aquila II has not been formally seized and placed under U.S. control, a defense official said.
Instead, the ship is being held while its ultimate fate is decided by the U.S., according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing decision-making.
The Aquila II is a Panamanian-flagged tanker under U.S. 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.
It was one of at least 16 tankers that fled the Venezuelan coast last month, according to Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, who said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship’s movements. According to data transmitted from the ship Monday, it is not currently laden with a cargo of crude oil.
The Pentagon’s post on X said the military “conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction” on the ship.
“The Aquila II was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” the Pentagon said. “It ran, and we followed.”
Original Article: US military boards sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after pursuit from the Caribbean — Associated Press