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The United States is attempting to seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker with links to Venezuela after a pursuit lasting over two weeks across the Atlantic, U.S. officials said.
Two U.S. officials told Reuters the operation, led by the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. military, was underway as Russian naval assets, including a submarine and a warship, were in the general vicinity.
The operation was taking place near Iceland.
The seizure came after the tanker, originally known as Bella-1, evaded a U.S. maritime “blockade” of sanctioned vessels and refused U.S. Coast Guard efforts to board it.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this appears to be the first time in recent memory that the U.S. military has attempted to seize a Russian-flagged vessel.
They said it was unclear how close the Russian vessels were to the operation.
The tanker, now operating under the name Marinera, was first intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard last month but refused boarding. It was later re-registered under the Russian flag.
U.S. officials said the vessel is the latest tanker targeted since the start of U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuela.
Separately, the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted another Venezuela-linked tanker in Latin American waters as part of continued enforcement of the maritime blockade on sanctioned Venezuelan vessels.
The developments come days after U.S. special forces carried out a pre-dawn raid in Caracas to seize Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and transfer him to the United States.
The U.S. military handed Maduro over to federal authorities for prosecution on charges related to alleged drug trafficking.
Senior Venezuelan officials described Maduro’s capture as a kidnapping and accused the United States of attempting to seize the country’s oil reserves, which are estimated to be the largest in the world.
Trump and senior U.S. officials have accused Venezuela of stealing U.S. oil, referring to the nationalization of the country’s energy sector over several decades.
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