{"id":398169,"date":"2026-01-07T19:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/398169\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T19:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:42:09","slug":"us-forces-seize-russian-flagged-oil-tanker-with-venezuela-links-in-north-atlantic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/398169\/","title":{"rendered":"US forces seize Russian-flagged oil tanker with Venezuela links in North Atlantic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US military has boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic Ocean that has been trying to evade a US blockade for weeks.<\/p>\n

It is one of two Venezuela-linked oil tankers intercepted by the US within a few hours, as the Trump administration pledges to tightly control the country’s oil industry and use its blockade to pressure its government to cooperate.<\/p>\n

Britain provided “enabling support” for the seizure of the tanker, including surveillance aircraft and a support ship.<\/p>\n

Russia reportedly sent a submarine and other naval vessels to the scene, declaring the tanker was “our vessel”.<\/p>\n

The tanker, formerly known as Bella 1, had been evading interception since the US Coast Guard attempted to board and seize it in December.<\/p>\n

It had changed its name to the Marinera and switched its registration to Russia. But the US deemed it “stateless after flying a false flag”, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

The US European Command said the tanker had been seized for “violations of US sanctions”. A warrant had been issued by a US federal court.<\/p>\n

The British Ministry of Defence said its forces provided “pre-planned operational support”.<\/p>\n

The White House said the tanker’s crew could now be charged in the US. “They will be brought to the United States for such prosecution if necessary,” Ms Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

Online maritime vessel tracker TankerTrackers showed the Marinera making a sudden southbound turn in the North Atlantic on Tuesday, local time. It was seized in the North Sea, near Iceland.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The US European Command said the ship was seized after a warrant was issued by an American federal court. (X: U.S. European Command)<\/p>\n

Moscow slammed the seizure of the vessel.<\/p>\n

Russia’s transport ministry said it had given the vessel “temporary permission” to sail under the Russian flag on December 24.<\/p>\n

Russia’s foreign ministry said it believed Russian citizens were among the crew. It issued a statement demanding the US respect their rights and “not hinder their speedy return to their homeland”.<\/p>\n

Venezuela’s power struggle has just begun<\/a><\/p>\n

Venezuelans celebrate Maduro\u2019s fall \u2014 but on the ground the fight for power is just beginning.<\/p>\n

UK Defence Secretary John Healey said Britain was satisfied the seizure complied with international law.<\/p>\n

“This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict, and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine,” he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Wednesday, local time, US officials told news outlets CBS and the Wall Street Journal that Russia has sent naval assets, including a submarine to escort the ship.<\/p>\n

Russia had asked the US to stop pursuing the vessel prior to its capture, the Journal said, citing three other US officials.<\/p>\n

Second tanker seized in Caribbean<\/p>\n

The US Coast Guard also seized a second Venezuelan-linked tanker, the Sophia, in Latin American waters.<\/p>\n

The US Southern Command, which oversees military activities in Latin America and the Caribbean, said the Sophia was interdicted in “a pre-dawn action”.<\/p>\n

“The Department of War, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, apprehended a stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker without incident,” it said on X.<\/p>\n

“The US Coast Guard is escorting M\/T Sophia to the US for final disposition,” said the post.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth added that the US’s blockade of “sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil” remained in effect globally.<\/p>\n

The interceptions came just days after US special forces swooped into Caracas before dawn on Saturday in a deadly raid to seize Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, who the US military turned over to federal authorities for prosecution in New York on charges involving alleged drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump announced a plan to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that had been stuck in Venezuela under the US blockade, in a further sign that Washington has been coordinating with the Venezuelan government since Mr Maduro’s capture.<\/p>\n

ABC\/wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US military has boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic Ocean that has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[212071,24766,43,44,19136,2016,212069,41,39,42,40,1055,22474,212070],"class_list":["post-398169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-bella-1","tag-blockade","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-oil","tag-russia","tag-tanker","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states","tag-venezuela","tag-venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}