Washington: In a high-stakes maritime pursuit reminiscent of thriller novels, the United States has once again clamped down on Venezuela’s shadowy oil trade, seizing the tanker Veronica III in the Indian Ocean.
The Pentagon announced on Sunday that American forces had been tailing the vessel from the Caribbean Sea, striking at the opportune moment to board and take control.
The Veronica III, laden with oil, is among the tankers that evaded US raids off Venezuela’s coast. “This ship was attempting to challenge President Trump’s quarantine and hoped to slip away. We pursued it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, and as soon as we closed in, we stopped it,” the Pentagon stated on X, detailing the operation under ‘right-of-visit, maritime interdiction, and boarding’ protocols.
Venezuela has long grappled with US sanctions on its oil exports, relying on a ‘shadow fleet’ of falsely flagged tankers to bypass restrictions. Former President Donald Trump ordered the interception of such vessels in December to pressure then-President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro was captured in a US military operation in January and is currently facing drug and corruption charges in New York.
The Panama-flagged Veronica III, which also transports Iranian oil under US sanctions, departed Venezuela on January 3 with nearly 20 lakh barrels of crude and fuel oil. According to TankerTrackers.com, it has been shuttling Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan crude since 2023. Co-founder Samir Madani revealed, based on satellite imagery, that at least 16 tankers have been quarantined under Trump’s directive.
This follows last week’s seizure of another tanker, Aquila II, in the same waters. While the Pentagon hasn’t confirmed if Veronica III is formally under US custody, the move underscores Washington’s relentless bid to choke Venezuela’s illicit oil lifeline. As global energy tensions simmer, such actions could reshape international shipping dynamics.