US forces seize sanctioned Russian-flagged ship oil tanker in the North Atlantic after slipping out of Venezuela last month. Later Wednesday, U.S. officials announced they had seized a second oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea.
The first ship was initially pursued by the WE Coast Guard in December 2025 after trying to escape the US blockade around Venezuela. The ship was refused boarding by the U.S. Coast Guard when they attempted to seize it.
The tanker is one of several sanctioned vessels that operated near Venezuela as part of a “ghost fleet” and was under U.S. surveillance since 2024 for allegedly transporting illicit goods for a company linked to a Lebanese faction of the militant group Hezbollah.
The M/V Bella 1 was seized by US forces on Wednesday in the North Atlantic.
American European Command/X
The ship had recently changed its name from Bella 1 to that of Marine and adopted a Russian flag.
Earlier on Wednesday, open source maritime tracking sites showed its position between Scotland and Iceland, heading 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 Wednesday.
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“Through Operation Southern Spear, the War Department is steadfast 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 message read.
Footage from the raid shows a helicopter flying over the tanker.
The 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 United States, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing Wednesday.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the back-to-back seizures were “meticulously coordinated” by the U.S. Coast Guard, the War Department, the Justice Department and the State Department. She also noted that the name Bella 1 was changed and the hull repainted “in a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to evade justice.”
“Criminals around the world are on alert. You can run, but you can’t hide,” Noem warned. “We will never let up on our mission to protect the American people and disrupt the financing of narcoterrorism wherever we find it, period. This is our nation’s greatest fighting force at its best. This is America first at sea,” she concluded.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense confirmed on Wednesday that its military took part in the operation, using surveillance aircraft, a support ship and British 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 that is fueling terrorism, conflict and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine,” Defense Secretary John Healey said. “The UK will continue to step up its action against Shadow Fleet activities to protect our national security, economy and global stability, ensuring the UK’s security at home and strength abroad.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the country would continue to impose a blockade against sanctioned ships, which he said were “stealing from the Venezuelan people.”
“Only legitimate and legal energy trade – as determined by the United States – will be permitted,” he continued.
The seizure of the tankers comes just days after U.S. military forces carried out a surprise nighttime raid on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Leavitt discussed U.S. actions in Venezuela.
“The skills and might of the United States military and our country under the leadership of this president are on full display to the rest of the world,” she said.
“No other army in the world could have carried out this operation,” Leavitt continued, later referring to a deal negotiated by Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to transport 30 to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil to the United States, which the president announced Tuesday evening and which Leavitt confirmed would require the lifting of some sanctions on Venezuelan oil to allow the transportation and sale of its product on the global markets.
Trump is expected to meet with the heads of US oil conglomerates later this week.
“There is no other president in the world or in the history of our country who has had the courage to authorize such a mission,” Leavitt said, adding that the Trump administration currently has “maximum power of influence” 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 persons and criminal cartels” in part of Trump’s foreign policy mandate, Peace through strength.
Speaking on the seizure of Bella 1, Leavitt said the crew would be subject to prosecution for any violations of applicable federal law.
— With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
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