US forces intercept Venezuela-linked tanker in Indian Ocean VIDEO

U.S. forces board Venezuela-linked oil tanker in Indian Ocean without incident, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said, accusing the vessel of violating Washington’s blockade on sanctioned ships travelling to or from Venezuela.

Hegseth wrote on X that “Overnight, U.S. military forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding on the Aquila II without incident.” He added: “It ran, and we followed.”

The tanker, Aquila II, was pursued from the Caribbean before being stopped in the Indian Ocean. The U.S. has intensified its blockade on vessels under sanctions moving to or from Venezuela, an OPEC oil-producing nation.

The Suezmax tanker departed Venezuelan waters in early January carrying around 700,000 barrels of heavy crude bound for China, according to shipping schedules from state-owned PDVSA. Most other tankers in the flotilla have either returned to Venezuela or been seized by U.S. forces.

Hegseth said Aquila II was operating in defiance of the U.S. “quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

He also wrote: “The Department of War tracked and hunted this vessel from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean…You will run out of fuel long before you will outrun us,” emphasising the long pursuit.

By Aghakazim Guliyev