WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – U.S. military forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from Caribbean waters, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, adding that it was the third such interdiction in that region.
After capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a military raid last month in Caracas, Washington has escalated its blockade on vessels that are under sanctions and going to and from the South American country, a member of the OPEC oil producers’ group.
In a post on X, the U.S. Department of Defense said its forces boarded the Bertha overnight. It accused the crude oil tanker of seeking to defy Iran-related sanctions.
The Bertha, which flies under a Cook Islands flag, is linked to Shanghai Legendary Ship Management Company Limited and falls under sanctions imposed in January 2020, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The ship management company could not immediately be reached for comment.
TANKER LEFT VENEZUELAN WATERS IN EARLY JANUARY
The vessel’s last reported position on AIS ship-tracking was on February 24, sailing in the Indian Ocean off the Maldives, according to MarineTraffic data.
“Overnight, U.S. forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the Bertha without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility. The vessel was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean and attempted to evade,” the Pentagon wrote.
“From the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, we tracked it and stopped it.”
“Three boats ran and now all three have been captured,” the Pentagon added, but gave no other details.
The Bertha departed in early January from Venezuelan waters as part of a flotilla that has been seized by the U.S. almost completely. The ship was carrying some 1.9 million barrels of Merey heavy crude bound for China, according to shipping reports from Venezuelan state company PDVSA.
Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said U.S. military forces had boarded the Suezmax tanker Aquila II in the Indian Ocean. That was followed by the seizure of the Veronica III in the same region on February 15.
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Defense Department to rename itself the Department of War, a change that will require action by Congress.
The vessels taken in the past have been either under U.S. sanctions or part of a “shadow fleet” of ships that disguise their origins to move oil from major sanctioned producers – Iran, Russia or Venezuela.
U.S. forces have intercepted 10 tankers since December – with the latest seizure – and released at least two of them back to the new Venezuelan government, according to Reuters analysis.
“International waters are not a refuge for sanctioned actors. By land, air, or sea, our forces will find you and deliver justice,” the Pentagon said.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Jonathan Saul and Marianna Parraga; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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