Military forces intercepted the Veronica III in the Indo-Pacific military region without incident on Feb. 15.
The United States intercepted a sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean during the overnight hours of Feb. 15, according to the Department of War.
U.S. forces boarded the Veronica III in the Indo-Pacific military region and inspected it “without incident,” it said, saying the vessel tried to defy President Donald Trump’s quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.
“We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down,” the Department of War wrote in an X post on Sunday. “No other nation has the reach, endurance, or will to do this.”
Images shared by the Department of War showed armed soldiers boarding the black, white, and red vessel after it allegedly attempted to “slip” through a U.S.-enforced quarantine.
“International waters are not [a] sanctuary,” the Department of War added.
“By land, air, or sea, we will find you and deliver justice. The Department of War will deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of movement in the maritime domain.”
The crude oil tanker involved in today’s operation, which was flagged in Panama, was listed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list, according to OpenSanctions.
“The tanker (VLCC class) is engaged in the illegal transportation of hundreds of thousands of metric tons of sanctioned Iranian oil on behalf of the sanctioned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC),” per OpenSanctions.
The tanker previously used different names and was flagged in Greece and Liberia, the database added.
The Department of War declined to comment on which country the tanker was coming from when asked by the Epoch Times on Feb. 15.
The United States has escalated a blockade on vessels traveling to and from Venezuela after capturing the country’s leader Nicolás Maduro in a military raid last month.
Sunday’s incident is the second time in a week that the U.S. forces boarded a crude oil tanker in the Indian Ocean.
By Jacki Thrapp
