The United States has seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean, U.S. officials announced Wednesday.
The U.S. European Command said in a post online that, in coordination with the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, it had seized the M/V Bella 1 for “violations of U.S. sanctions.”
“The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro,” the post said.
It follows a proclamation from President Donald Trump to target sanctioned vessels that “threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere.”
Shortly after the announcement, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said U.S. forces also took control of a tanker, Sophia, in the Caribbean. Both of the vessels, Noem said, were either last docked in Venezuela or en route to the country.
The seizures come just days after Trump announced that the U.S. had conducted a military operation in Venezuela and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro, and extradited him to a jail in New York.
Maduro and his wife have been charged with narco-terrorism charges as the Trump administration plows ahead with its goal to crack down on the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States.
In the days since, Trump has shared details about U.S. involvement in the future governance of Venezuela and how Maduro’s administration will remain in power through his vice president. On Tuesday, the president said that Venezuela would provide 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S. and said the profits from the sale would “benefit the people” of both countries.
Trump will be meeting with oil executives from the U.S. on Friday, including Exxon and Chevron, to discuss the future of Venezuela’s oil, though Energy Secretary Christ Wright admitted it would be costly to return the country to the height of its oil years.
“To get back to the historical production numbers, that takes tens of billions of dollars and significant time,” Wright said Wednesday at a conference, per The New York Times. “But why not?”
Noem, in her post online, shared that the Bella tanker had been trying to evade the U.S. Coast Guard for weeks and even changed its flag and painted a new name on its hull “in a desperate and failed attempt to escape justice.”
The Bella tanker had been reflagged as Russian and renamed the Marinera after turning toward Europe. The ship was sanctioned in 2024 by the U.S. for allegedly smuggling cargo for a company linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, backed by Iran, The Associated Press reported.
Russia, a supporter of Maduro’s, said the U.S. violated maritime law by seizing the ship. It’s the latest in a string of conflicts between the U.S. and Russia, and it’s not known how or if the Kremlin will respond.
Noem said the crew pursued the vessel across high seas and through “treacherous storms.”
“The world’s criminals are on notice. You can run, but you can’t hide. We will never relent in our mission to protect the American people and disrupt the funding of narco terrorism whenever we find it, period,” she said.
The United States began seizing oil tankers in December. Trump announced the first seizure in mid-December, noting that the Coast Guard and Navy seized the ship off of Venezuela’s coast.
The Venezuelan government at the time said it was a “blatant theft and an act of international piracy.” It was one of the largest moves, before Maduro’s capture, of the U.S. escalating its pressure campaign on Venezuela after months of boat strikes.
Trump administration officials are celebrating the achievement.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that it would be disingenuous for people to question the success of one of the country’s most historic military missions in Venezuela recently.
“The level of sophistication ... is something only the United States of America can accomplish. The world is taking notice of that,” he said to reporters after briefing Senators on the Maduro capture. “Certainly Venezuela is taking notice of that, and it continues because two oil tankers, two overnight, were seized by the United States of America.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also briefed the upper chamber, said “they understand that the only way they can move oil and generate revenue and not have economic collapse is if they cooperate and work with the United States.”