The U.S. military on Sunday boarded another sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean that was tracked from the Caribbean as part of efforts to curb illicit oil shipments linked to Venezuela.According to the Department of Defense, the U.S. military conducted the operation overnight in the Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility. The tanker, identified as the Veronica 3, was intercepted after a long pursuit.“We defend our country. Distance does not protect you,” the Pentagon said in a post on X. The department also posted a video showing U.S. troops boarding a tanker.Providing details of the operation, it added: “Overnight, U.S. forces conducted access, maritime interdiction and boarding of the USS Veronica 3 in the Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility without incident.”The department further said the vessel was trying to evade law enforcement measures ordered by President Donald Trump. “This ship tried to ignore President Trump’s quarantine – hoping to slip away. We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and then shut it down. No other country had the capability, endurance or willingness to do this.”It also issued a broader warning, saying “International waters are no sanctuary. We will find you and deliver justice by land, air, or sea. The Department of the Army will deny freedom of movement in maritime waters to unlawful actors and their agents.”The Veronica III is a Panamanian-flagged vessel currently subject to U.S. Iran-related sanctions, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control website.The action comes amid ongoing U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry. Venezuela has faced U.S. sanctions for years and relied on a so-called shadow fleet of false-flag tankers to move crude into global supply chains.In December, President Trump ordered the quarantine of sanctioned oil tankers to increase pressure on then-President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro was later arrested during a U.S. military operation in January.The Trump administration has been seizing oil tankers as part of a broader effort to control the flow of Venezuelan oil.Last week, U.S. forces boarded another oil tanker, the Skyhawk 2, in the Indian Ocean. The ship was detained while U.S. authorities determined its final fate, according to a defense official.
