US military forces have boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean, having tracked the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an operation targeting illicit oil linked to Venezuela, the Pentagon announced on Sunday.
The Defence Department confirmed via a post on X that US forces boarded the Veronica III overnight, executing 'a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding.' The Pentagon stated: 'The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine – hoping to slip away. We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down.'
The Veronica III, a Panamanian-flagged vessel, is listed under US sanctions related to Iran, according to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control website. Video released by the Pentagon depicted US troops boarding the tanker.
This incident follows another boarding last week, when the US military intercepted the Aquila II, a different tanker, also in the Indian Ocean. That vessel is currently being held while its ultimate fate is determined by the United States, a defence official stated last week on condition of anonymity.
The Aquila II is a Panamanian-flagged tanker under US sanctions related to the shipment of illicit Russian oil. Owned by a company with a listed address in Hong Kong, ship tracking data shows it has spent much of the last year with its radio transponder turned off, a practice known as 'running dark' commonly employed by smugglers to hide their location.
