U.S. says it’s seized two oil tankers linked to Venezuela

U.S. forces have seized a sanctioned, Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic after it slipped out of Venezuela last month. Later Wednesday, U.S. officials said they had seized a second tanker in the Caribbean Sea.

The first vessel was initially pursued by the U.S. Coast Guard in December 2025 after it tried to evade a U.S. blockade around Venezuela. The ship refused boarding by the U.S. Coast Guard when it attempted to seize it.

The tanker is one of several sanctioned vessels that were operating close to Venezuela within a “shadow fleet,” and had been under U.S. watch since 2024 for allegedly transporting illicit cargo for a company linked to a Lebanese faction of the militant group Hezbollah.

The ship had recently changed its name from Bella 1 to the Marinera and adopted a Russian flag.

Earlier Wednesday, open-source maritime tracking sites showed its position between Scotland and Iceland, travelling north. A U.S. official also confirmed to The Associated Press that the ship was in the North Atlantic.

The second “stateless” vessel was seized in international waters early Wednesday, the U.S. Southern Command announced on X.

“Through Operation Southern Spear, the Department of War is unwavering in its mission to crush illicit activity in the Western Hemisphere. We will defend our Homeland and restore security and strength across the Americas,” the post reads.

Footage of the raid shows a helicopter hovering above the oil tanker.

M/T Sophia was operating in international waters and conducting illicit activities in the Caribbean Sea, according to the U.S. military, and is being escorted to the U.S., White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the back-to-back seizures were “meticulously coordinated” by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of War, the Department of Justice and the Department of State. She also noted that the name Bella 1 had been changed and the hull repainted “in a desperate and failed attempt to escape justice.”

“The world’s criminals are on notice. You can run, but you can’t hide,” Noem warned. “We will never relent in our mission to protect the American people and disrupt the funding of narco terrorism wherever we find it, period. This is our country’s greatest fighting force at their best. This is America first at sea,” she concluded.

The U.K. defence ministry confirmed Wednesday that its military assisted with the operation, using surveillance aircraft, a support ship, and U.K. bases, and said it was “in full compliance with international law.”

“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,” Defense Secretary John Healey said. “The U.K. will continue to step up our action against shadow fleet activity to protect our national security, our economy and global stability — making Britain secure at home and strong abroad.”

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Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the country will continue to enforce a blockade against sanctioned vessels, which he said are “stealing from the Venezuelan people.”

“Only legitimate and lawful energy commerce—as determined by the U.S.—will be permitted,” he continued.

The tankers’ seizure comes just days after U.S. military forces conducted a surprise nighttime raid on Venezuela’s capital of Caracas and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

Speaking to reporters from the White House on Wednesday, Leavitt addressed U.S. actions in Venezuela.

“The skill, the might of the United States military and our country under the leadership of this president, is on full display to the rest of the world,” she said.

“There isn’t another military in the world that could have pulled off this operation,” Leavitt continued, later referencing a deal brokered by Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to transport 30 to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil to the U.S., which the president announced Tuesday night and that Leavitt confirmed would require the lifting of some sanctions placed on Venezuelan oil to enable the transport and sale of its product in global markets.

Trump is set to meet with the heads of U.S. oil conglomerates later this week.

“There is not another president in the world or in our nation’s history who had the courage to authorize such a mission,” Leavitt said, adding that the Trump administration presently has “maximum leverage” over interim Venezuelan authorities, whose decisions will “continue to be dictated by the United States of America,” as it consolidates its crackdown on the transportation of illicit drugs, “illegal people and criminal cartels” under Trump’s Peace Through Strength foreign policy mandate.

Speaking on the seizure of Bella 1, Leavitt said the crew are subject to prosecution for any applicable federal law violations.

— With files from The Associated Press and Reuters