US warship seizes second Venezuelan oil tanker in Indian Ocean
The US military boarded another tanker in the Indian Ocean carrying Venezuelan oil, the Pentagon said, in the latest escalation of Washington’s sanctions enforcement against Caracas.
In a statement on Sunday, the Pentagon claimed the Panamanian-flagged Veronica III had tried to “slip away” by sailing the vessel from the Caribbean Sea to the Indian Ocean.
“We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down,” it added.
This is the second oil tanker linked to Venezuela seized by the US military in the Indian Ocean.
Last week, the US military announced seizing the first Venezuela-linked vessel, the Aquila II, in the Indian Ocean.
The Pentagon said the move demonstrates the US President Donald Trump’s determination to enforce the oil blockade on Venezuela even “halfway around the world.”
Since last year, nine ships have been seized by the US military in international waters.
International observers have slammed Washington’s move as “theft” and “outright piracy.”
Russia has condemned the US capture of a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic as a violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Venezuela had faced oil sanctions from the United States for several years. In December, however, Trump expanded the pressure campaign by ordering a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in an effort to target the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
The standoff escalated in January, when US special forces detained Maduro and his wife in Caracas and transferred them to a facility in New York.
After Maduro’s abduction, Trump announced that Venezuela’s oil would be controlled by Washington.
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said on Thursday that oil sales from Venezuela, controlled by Washington, have generated more than $1bn since Maduro’s capture. He said the sales in the next few months will bring in another $5bn.
