America Ramps Up Pressure Campaign on Sanctions-Evading ‘Shadow Fleet’ With Sixth Tanker Seizure

The American military says it expects to continue seizing oil tankers that are trying to smuggle oil out of Venezuela after a successful operation on Thursday.The United States Southern Command said that it worked with a Coast Guard tactical team to seize another oil tanker it says was trying to break the sanctions quarantine in the Caribbean Sea. Marines and sailors launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford in a pre-dawn operation to board the Veronica. The military said the operation took place “without incident.”“The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” the military said in an X post that included video of troops lowering themselves onto the deck from a helicopter.Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the tanker had previously passed through Venezuelan waters. The ship had been anchored just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal more than a week earlier and was partially filled with oil, the Associated Press reported.“As we’ve now demonstrated through multiple boardings, there is no outrunning or escaping American justice — period,” Ms. Noem said in an X post. “Our resolve is unshakeable and our mission coordination has never been better. America’s Coast Guard remains Always Ready to apply the full force of its unique authorities and specialized capabilities against this threat anywhere, anytime.”Ms. Noem said the ship is part of a ghost fleet seeking to avoid sanctions. That fleet — also known as a shadow fleet — is made up of more than a thousand unregistered tankers that carry embargoed oil from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela around the globe.American forces have now seized at least six tankers connected to Venezuelan oil smuggling. The seizures started as a pressure campaign on President Nicolás Maduro before he was apprehended in a bold American raid on Venezuela. The campaign is continuing to pressure Venezuela’s interim government as the Trump administration plans to control the country’s oil distribution for the foreseeable future.One of the seizures was a tanker that claimed to be Russian-flagged. American forces had been tracking a tanker known as the Bella 1 for more than a week when the crew suddenly painted a Russian flag on the hull and the ship appeared in a Russian registry as the Marinera. The Trump administration handed over two Russian crew members from the ship last Friday.The latest seizure came hours ahead of a meeting between President Trump and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado at the White House. Mr. Trump has previously dismissed the idea of Ms. Machado leading Venezuela, saying she didn’t have enough support inside Venezuela despite her party appearing to have won 2024 elections that Mr. Maduro refused to accept.Ms. Machado was awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize after Mr. Trump repeatedly said he would win the award.Since Mr. Maduro’s ouster, the Trump administration has looked to acting President Delcy Rodriguez to head the government. Mr. Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he had a long call with Ms. Rodriguez. “We discussed a lot of things,” Mr. Trump said. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”Ms. Rodriguez has said her government will continue to release prisoners detained by Mr. Maduro’s regime. She was set to deliver her first state of the union speech on Thursday to the Venezuelan National Assembly.

America Ramps Up Pressure Campaign on Sanctions-Evading ‘Shadow Fleet’ With Sixth Tanker Seizure

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