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What we know about tankers seized by US - as Russia responds
America has seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in back-to-back operations in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
US forces boarded the Marinera - originally known as the Bella 1 - between Iceland and Scotland as it headed towards Russia on Wednesday. Two US officials told Reuters a Russian submarine and warship had been close by.
Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, posted on X: "The blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in FULL EFFECT - anywhere in the world." Live updates on tanker seizures and Trump's Greenland threat Why was it seized? The US had been pursuing the Marinera for two weeks since it slipped through a "blockade" around Venezuela. It was sanctioned in 2024 for allegedly smuggling cargo for a company linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The US Coast Guard tried to intercept it last month but it refused to be boarded. The ship was sailing under a Guyana flag when it left the Caribbean but re-registered under a Russian flag.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey said it had a "nefarious history" and was "part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict, and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine". Both seized ships are part of a "ghost fleet" carrying oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela against Western sanctions - mostly to customers in Asia - according to US homeland security security Kristi Noem.
Was the UK involved? Britain provided "enabling support.
Amir Nisi
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