US military boards a third tanker in the Indian Ocean for violating Trump’s Caribbean blockade, part of a wider crackdown on sanctioned oil shipments.
WASHINGTON: US forces have boarded a third tanker ship in the Indian Ocean for violating President Donald Trump’s blockade of sanctioned vessels.
The Pentagon announced the overnight operation against the tanker Bertha, which had fled the Caribbean region.
“Forces tracked it and stopped it,” the Pentagon stated in a social media post accompanied by video of the boarding.
The vessel was operating in defiance of the established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.
This marks the third ship intercepted in the Indian Ocean this month and the tenth overall since December.
Trump ordered the blockade targeting sanctioned oil vessels heading to and from Venezuela.
A senior US Coast Guard officer estimates up to 800 sanctioned “shadow fleet” vessels operate worldwide.
Those seized recently constitute only a tiny fraction of this total fleet.
The Defense Department vowed to deny illicit actors freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.
afp
