Washington, February 15 – The Pentagon said on Sunday that US forces intercepted and boarded another oil tanker linked to Venezuela in the Indian Ocean overnight.
The vessel, named Veronica III, was tracked by US authorities from the Caribbean Sea to the Indian Ocean before being stopped and inspected, the Pentagon said in a statement on the social media platform X.
"Overnight, US forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction, and boarding of the Veronica III without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility," the statement said.
"The vessel attempted to evade President Trump's quarantine—hoping to slip away. We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and stopped it," the statement said.
"International waters are not a sanctuary."
Ship-tracking and maritime data websites identify the Veronica III as a Panama-flagged oil tanker, Xinhua news agency reported.
Just a week ago, the US military pursued a Venezuela-linked oil tanker named the Aquila II from the Caribbean and boarded it in the Indian Ocean.
US President Donald Trump ordered what he described as a "total and complete blockade" of all US-sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela in December.
The blockade has continued following the US raid and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3.
"International waters are not a sanctuary. By land, air, or sea, we will find you and deliver justice. The Department of Defense will deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of movement in the maritime domain," the US Defence Department said in a post on Sunday.
The Veronica III is a Panamanian-flagged vessel under US sanctions related to Iran, according to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control website.
Maritime intelligence firm TankerTrackers.com reported that Veronica III left Venezuela on January 3, 2026, the same day Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was captured, carrying nearly 1.9 million barrels of crude and fuel oil. The tanker has been linked to shipments of Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan oil since 2023.
A similar incident was reported last week, when US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said US troops had boarded a crude oil tanker that was breaching Washington's blockade on sanctioned vessels travelling to or from Venezuela.
Similarly, the vessel was boarded in the Indian Ocean after being followed from the Caribbean.
