Washington says the tanker is part of a so-called shadow fleet that carries oil for countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions, and seized it despite the ship being escorted by the Russian navy.
The vessel had thwarted an earlier attempt to board it last month near Venezuela, where a US raid on Saturday toppled the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro.
“The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court,” US European Command, which oversees American forces in the region, said in a statement on X.
After the operation, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted that the US blockade on Venezuelan oil was in full effect “anywhere in the world.”
The US military also announced a second sanctioned tanker ship had been seized in the Caribbean Sea.
Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem posted on X that both vessels “were either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it,” and included a video of US forces roping down from a helicopter onto an unidentified ship and proceeding toward the bridge with weapons ready.
UK supported US mission
Britain provided support to the United States in its operation to seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic, the Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.
Britain said its armed forces gave “pre-planned operational support, including basing” following a US request for assistance. It said a military vessel provided support for the US forces pursuing the tanker, and the Royal Air Force provided surveillance support from the air.
Defence Secretary John Healey said the operation targeted a vessel “with a nefarious history” linked to Russian and Iranian sanctions evasion networks. “This action formed part of global efforts to crack down on sanctions busting,” he said in a statement.
The Bella-1 tanker, now renamed Marinera, is sanctioned by the US under its counter-Iran sanctions, the British government said.
The MoD statement said the support was provided “in full compliance with international law”.
Russia calls the seizure illegal
Russia said that the US seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic was a violation of maritime law, and a senior lawmaker described it as “outright piracy”.
Russia’s Transport Ministry said contact with the vessel, the Marinera, had been lost after US naval forces boarded it near Iceland as part of efforts to block oil exports from Venezuela.
“In accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, freedom of navigation applies in the high seas, and no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states,” the ministry said in a statement.
Russia is demanding that the United States ensure humane and decent treatment of the Russian crew members and their swift return home, state news agency TASS quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying. The Marinera, originally known as the Bella-1, had previously slipped through a U.S. maritime blockade of sanctioned tankers in the Caribbean.
US to control oil sales ‘indefinitely’
Last weekend, US special forces snatched Maduro and his wife from Caracas and flew them to New York to face trial on drug charges.
Since then, President Donald Trump has said that the United States will “run” Venezuela and US companies will control its critical oil industry.
In Caracas, after several days of shuttered shops and intermittent public transport, the capital’s streets were again busy Wednesday with pedestrians, street vendors, cars and motorbikes.
The North Atlantic operation came despite Russia reportedly sending a submarine and other naval assets to escort the empty tanker and saying the vessel was sailing under the Russian flag.
The vessel, formerly known as the Bella-1, in recent weeks switched its registration to Russia, changed its name to the Marinera and the tanker’s crew reportedly painted a Russian flag on the tanker.
It had been en route to Venezuela before it evaded the US blockade, and has been under US sanctions since 2024 over alleged ties to Iran and Hezbollah.
Trump said Tuesday that Venezuela said 30-50 million barrels of “high?quality, sanctioned” Venezuelan crude will be shipped to US ports, with the revenue — perhaps more than $2 billion at current market prices — placed under his personal control.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright added Wednesday that Washington will control sales of Venezuelan oil “indefinitely.”
It was not clear whether Venezuela’s new ruler — interim president Delcy Rodriguez — had agreed to hand over the oil, how the plan would work, or what its legal basis would be.
Rodriguez — a long-time member of Maduro’s inner circle as vice president and energy minister — has vowed cooperation with the United States amid fears that Trump could pursue wider regime change.