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U.S. forces seized a sixth oil tanker Thursday in an early morning operation, in line with U.S. Southern Command.
The tanker was seized as a part of a quarantine on sanctioned oil tankers going out and in of Venezuela.
“In one other pre-dawn motion, Marines and Sailors from Joint Activity Drive Southern Spear, in help of the Division of Homeland Safety, launched from USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and apprehended Motor/Tanker Veronica with out incident,” U.S. Southern Command mentioned in a publish on X.
“The Veronica is the most recent tanker working in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels within the Caribbean, proving the effectiveness of Operation Southern Spear but once more,” it mentioned.
“The one oil leaving Venezuela will likely be oil that’s coordinated correctly and lawfully,” it added.
Newsmax and Reuters have been first to report the seizure, which comes as President Trump is ready to meet with Venezuelan opposition chief María Corina Machado Thursday on the White Home.
Final week, the U.S. seized three tankers with hyperlinks to Venezuela, together with the Marinera. That tanker, previously referred to as Bella-1, was crusing beneath the Russian flag and was seized within the North Atlantic. The Olina and the Sophia have been seized within the Caribbean.
Ships just like the Marinera are a part of a so-called shadow fleet of ships that illegally transport oil from sanctioned nations like Russia, Iran and Venezuela.
The most recent seizures come after the U.S. captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his spouse in a shock in a single day operation, and because the U.S. extra broadly works to take management of Venezuela’s oil.
The primary U.S. sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500 million, has been accomplished, an administration official mentioned earlier this week, and extra gross sales are anticipated within the coming days and weeks.
The White Home has offered a method to promote thousands and thousands of barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil and management the proceeds.
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