The Pak Global Pakistan:
United States military forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after a long pursuit from the Caribbean Sea, the Pentagon announced on Sunday.
The Panama-flagged tanker Veronica III had been subject to US sanctions for allegedly carrying illicit Venezuelan oil and attempting to evade enforcement of a maritime quarantine imposed by former President Donald Trump.
According to the Pentagon’s statement, US forces tracked the vessel over thousands of miles from the Caribbean through international waters and conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction, and boarding in the Indo-Pacific Command region without incident. A video shared by the defense department showed military personnel boarding the tanker from a helicopter.
The quarantine, instituted in December, aimed to pressure Venezuela by restricting oil shipments from vessels under sanctions. The Veronica III reportedly departed Venezuelan waters on January 3 carrying nearly 2 million barrels of crude and fuel oil and has been linked to sanctioned operations involving Venezuelan, Russian, and Iranian oil.
This is the second known tanker boarded in the Indian Ocean in recent days after the earlier interception of the Aquila II, reflecting an intensified American effort to enforce sanctions and crack down on what the Pentagon describes as a “shadow fleet” trading in embargoed cargoes.
Officials have not yet clarified whether the Veronica III will be formally seized or redirected following the boarding.
