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The US has seized a Russian oil tanker after a weeks-long pursuit across the Atlantic, in the Trump administration’s latest high-stakes demonstration of the American military’s power and reach.
The US military’s European command said on Wednesday that it had boarded the Marinera, which was previously known as the Bella 1, over alleged sanctions violations.
“The vessel was seized in the north Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court” after being tracked by a US coastguard ship, the statement on X added.
Separately it said it had intercepted a “dark fleet” ship, the M Sophia, in the Caribbean. According to Kpler, the data and analytics company, the vessel was carrying Venezuelan oil and had been identified making four trips from the country in 2025.
“The blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in FULL EFFECT — anywhere in the world,” Pete Hegseth, US secretary of defence, posted on X soon afterwards.
While the US administration has stressed the importance of the Venezuelan blockade to its action, the Marinera had been sanctioned for alleged violations relating to Iran.
The vessel was also empty when it was seized, having turned away from US forces in the Caribbean in December while seemingly en route to Venezuela.
At the time, it was operating under a false Guyanese flag, but it has since been sold to a Russian company and reflagged as Russian.
Wednesday’s seizure comes at a delicate time in international relations following the US’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. It is also likely to raise tensions with Moscow as western powers try to negotiate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia’s transport ministry said on Wednesday that it had given the Marinera temporary permission to sail under the Russian flag late last month “based on Russian law and norms of international law”.
It said it lost contact with the ship after US forces boarded it and claimed the seizure had taken place in international waters.
The ministry said that no state had the right to use force in open waters against vessels registered in other states’ jurisdictions.
The US previously sought to interdict the empty tanker in December when it was heading towards Venezuela, where it was likely to have picked up oil. An attempt was made to board it as it approached the Caribbean, prompting it to flee east across the Atlantic.
On Wednesday, the Marinera broadcast positioning data showing it making a sudden turn at 11.26am GMT in the Atlantic 325km from Iceland.
Aircraft position data also showed three US Air Force Pilatus U-28 Draco aircraft, used in support of special forces operations, heading north from Wick in northern Scotland.
An RAF P-8 Poseidon aircraft, which can be used for anti-submarine warfare and surveillance, also headed into the area from RAF Lossiemouth, also in northern Scotland.
Downing Street said that “as routine, we don’t comment on the operational activity of other nations, and that’s a long-standing position. We don’t comment on the operational activity”.
It added that the principle also applied to the third-party use of UK bases.
People familiar with the matter said that approval for operations launched from US bases in the UK was considered on a “case by case basis”.
Russian state media reported earlier in the day that a helicopter was trying to land what appeared to be US forces on the tanker.
The Marinera had been overflown by a European Space Agency Sentinel-1 satellite, which takes radar images, on Tuesday. Imagery from the pass confirmed that a vessel roughly the size of a US Coast Guard cutter was about 1.75 nautical miles behind the Marinera.
Reports earlier on Wednesday said Russia was sending a submarine and potentially other naval vessels to help escort the tanker back to Russia.
The seizure of the tanker may lead to questions in the UK, where Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has faced pressure to say whether he thinks the US operation to capture Maduro was legal under international law.
“The US is the UK’s principal defence and security partner,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said. “The depth of our defence relationship with the US remains an essential part of our security.”
US southern command added that it had “apprehended a stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker without incident”, the M Sophia, in a pre-dawn action in the Caribbean Sea.
“The Department of War is unwavering in its mission to crush illicit activity in the Western Hemisphere,” it said on X.
The ship has been stateless since January 2025, according to the International Maritime Organization. The 22-year-old tanker has not broadcast a position for six months, according to MarineTraffic.
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