{"id":196146,"date":"2026-01-08T13:31:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-seizes-venezuela-linked-russian-oil-tanker-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T13:31:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:31:43","slug":"us-seizes-venezuela-linked-russian-oil-tanker-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-seizes-venezuela-linked-russian-oil-tanker-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"US seizes Venezuela-linked Russian oil tanker – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia says US seizure of the Marinera vessel in North Atlantic constitutes violation of international maritime law.<\/em>
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The US special forces commandeered a Russian-flagged oil tanker with links to Venezuela in the North Atlantic after a weeks-long pursuit, drawing a sharp rebuke from Moscow.
The US military\u2019s European Command said the Marinera oil tanker, originally known as the Bella-1, was seized on Wednesday \u201cfor violations of US sanctions\u201d.
\u201cThe blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in FULL EFFECT \u2013 anywhere in the world,\u201d US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media.
The operation came after the Marinera slipped through a US maritime \u201cblockade\u201d of sanctioned tankers<\/a> going to and from Venezuela and rebuffed US Coast Guard efforts to board it.
American officials say the tanker is part of a \u201cshadow fleet\u201d that has carried oil for countries such as Venezuela, Russia, and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
\u200cRussian state broadcaster RT reported US forces boarded the Marinera from a helicopter, and it published \u2060an image of the aircraft \u200bhovering near the ship.
RT cited an unnamed source as saying a US \u200bCoast Guard vessel has been \u200cfollowing the tanker, and an attempt to seize it during a storm had already been \u200ccarried out.
US forces have been pursuing the Marinera in the Atlantic Ocean since last month in the lead-up to the country\u2019s military operation to abduct<\/a> Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro<\/a>, which was carried out on Saturday.
In a statement, the Russian Transport Ministry said the US seizure was a violation of maritime law.
\u201cIn accordance with the 1982 UN Convention ‍on the \u2060Law of the Sea, freedom of navigation applies in the high seas, and no state has the \u200bright \u200cto use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of \u200cother states,\u201d it \u200csaid in a statement.
The ministry \u2060added contact with the vessel, which it said received \u201ctemporary permission\u201d to sail under the Russia flag on December 24, was \u200clost after US naval forces boarded it \u201cin the open sea, beyond the territorial waters of any state\u201d.
Tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the tanker nearing Iceland\u2019s exclusive economic zone before it was captured.
A Russian submarine and warship were in the vicinity as the operation unfolded, but there were no indications of any confrontation between US and Russian forces, Reuters news agency reported.
Reporting from Moscow, journalist Dmitry Medvedenko said there had been at least two attempts in the past weeks of \u201cthis cat-and-mouse game to seize this tanker\u201d.<\/span>
The Russian government has not confirmed whether it sent any vessels or submarines to accompany the Marinera, Medvedenko said.
\u201cFor reasons unclear to us, the Russian vessel is receiving heightened attention from the US and NATO militaries \u2013 attention that is clearly disproportionate to its peaceful status,\u201d the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ship was sanctioned by the US in 2024 for allegedly smuggling cargo for a company linked to the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
The US Coast Guard tried to board it in the Caribbean in December as it headed for Venezuela. The ship refused boarding and headed across the Atlantic.
Wednesday\u2019s seizure was the latest in US President Donald Trump\u2019s crackdown on sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela.
After capturing Maduro on Saturday, Trump said his government would \u201crun\u201d the South American country and develop its vast oil reserves. On Tuesday, the US leader also said Venezuela would hand over 30 million to 50 billion barrels<\/a> of sanctioned oil to the United States.<\/p>\n

Separately, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said a second vessel \u2013 supertanker M Sophia \u2013 was seized by American forces \u201cin international waters near the Caribbean\u201d.
Reuters said the vessel was Panama-flagged and under US sanctions.
It departed from Venezuelan waters this month as part of a fleet of ships carrying Venezuelan oil to China in \u201cdark mode\u201d, or with its transponder off, according to shipping data and sources, the news agency added.
In a social media post, Noem said both the M Sophia and the Marinera were \u201ceither last docked in Venezuela or en route to it\u201d.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera\u2019s Kimberly Halkett said the seizures are a \u201csignificant\u201d development.
\u201cIt\u2019s clear that there is an operation under way \u2013 a number of vessels that not only have been [pursued] but have now been apprehended,\u201d Halkett said.<\/p>\n

Follow Al Jazeera English:<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia says US seizure of the Marinera vessel in North Atlantic constitutes violation of international maritime law.ShareSaveThe US special forces commandeered a Russian-flagged oil tanker with links to Venezuela in the North Atlantic after a weeks-long pursuit, drawing a sharp rebuke from Moscow.The US military\u2019s European Command said the Marinera oil tanker, originally known as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-196146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}