United States forces boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean Wednesday following a weeks-long chase on the high seas which has escalated tensions with Moscow and piled additional stress on its ally Venezuela.
The growing older, rusting tanker, initially referred to as the Bella 1, was sanctioned by the US in 2024 for working inside a “shadow fleet” of tankers transporting illicit Iranian oil.
Last month the US Coast Guard tried to seize the vessel whereas it was heading to Venezuela to decide up oil, then working below the flag of Guyana. But the ship’s crew refused to be boarded and made an abrupt flip into the Atlantic.
The Bella 1’s crew later painted a Russian flag on its facet, and it appeared in a Russian delivery register below a brand new identify, the Marinera.
US officers later mentioned Moscow had dispatched a submarine to escort the vessel because it sailed towards Europe, threatening a doable confrontation between Washington and the Kremlin.
Here’s what we know.
Where and the way was the Bella 1 seized?
The US repositioned army property to the UK forward of seizing the tanker, NCS has reported.
V-22 Osprey plane had been lively in the UK over the previous a number of days, with flight information showing to present them operating coaching missions in the UK out of Fairford air base. And two AC-130 gunships had been seen arriving at Mildenhall base in the UK on Sunday.
The Bella 1 was seized Wednesday roughly 190 miles off the southern coast of Iceland in the northern Atlantic Ocean, in accordance to ship-tracking web site MarineTraffic. The website exhibits the tanker taking a pointy flip south round the time that it was reported seized.
Russia’s Transport Ministry confirmed that it misplaced contact with the tanker after US forces boarded the ship at 7 a.m. ET.
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US Navy SEALs had been amongst the forces that boarded the tanker after they had been transported to the ship by the US Army’s a hundred and sixtieth Special Operations Aviation Regiment, often known as the “night stalkers,” in accordance to two folks briefed on the operation.
The UK protection ministry additionally mentioned it helped with the seizure “following a US request for assistance.”
The US didn’t launch footage of the seizure. Grainy video launched by Russian state media RT seems to present a ship shadowing the actions of the Bella 1 in the days earlier than the seizure.
In the video shot from aboard the Bella 1, an unmarked vessel will be seen hovering in the distance, partially obscured by fog. The RT report mentioned the boat was a US Coast Guard ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem mentioned the crew of the US Coast Guard Munro had pursued the ship for weeks “across the high seas and through treacherous storms.” However, it’s unclear if the ship in the RT footage is the Munro.
Ahead of the vessel’s seizure, the Russian army had began to transfer round naval property and a submarine to shield the ship, in accordance to a US official. But it’s unclear how shut these vessels had been to the tanker when it was seized, the supply mentioned.
Russia condemned the Bella 1’s seizure, with its transport ministry arguing “no state has the right to use force against vessels that are properly registered in the jurisdictions of other nations” below the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty which the US has not signed.
The nation’s Foreign Ministry demanded that the US return the Russian residents aboard “to their homeland,” in accordance to the Russian state information company TASS.
TASS additionally reported Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky referred to as the US seizure of the vessel an act of “21st-century piracy” which violates worldwide regulation.
Russian chief Vladimir Putin has but to touch upon the seizure.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed dangers of a confrontation with Russia, arguing US President Donald Trump maintains relationship with Putin.
“I believe those personal relationships are going to continue,” she mentioned.
China additionally condemned the seizure on Thursday, calling it a “serious violation of international law.”
“China has always opposed illegal unilateral sanctions that lack a basis in international law and are not authorized by the UN Security Council, and opposes any actions that violate the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and infringe upon the sovereignty and security of other countries,” overseas ministry spokesperson Mao Ning informed reporters at a daily briefing.
The vessel was not carrying any oil when it was seized, in accordance to analytics agency Kpler.
That’s in distinction with the Skipper and the Centuries, the different two tankers efficiently intercepted by the Coast Guard in current weeks as half of Washington’s stress marketing campaign on Venezuela. The US piloted each to Texas and is planning to seize their oil cargoes.
According to Kpler, the Bella 1’s compliance profile consists of two separate 99-day gaps the place the ship switched off its Automatic Identification System (AIS), a compulsory, real-time ship monitoring system.
Switching off AIS transmission is a standard tactic noticed amongst vessels loading sanctioned Iranian crude, in accordance to Kpler.
In a separate operation Wednesday, the US mentioned it seized an oil tanker referred to as Sophia, in worldwide waters close to the Caribbean.
The ship was a “stateless, sanctioned” tanker which had been “conducting illicit activities in the Caribbean Sea,” in accordance to a post to social media by US Southern Command.
The Sophia is carrying roughly 2 million barrels of crude oil which had been loaded from a port in Venezuela, according to Emmanuel Belostrino, senior supervisor of crude oil market information at world information and analytics supplier Kpler.
The White House on Wednesday vowed to continue seizing sanctioned oil tankers regardless of considerations it might ratchet up tensions with Russia and China – which is a purchaser of Venezuelan oil.
Trump is “going to enforce our policy that’s best for the United States of America,” Leavitt mentioned throughout a press briefing.
“That means enforcing the embargo against all dark fleet vessels that are illegally transporting oil.”
Kpler information shared with NCS on Thursday confirmed that not less than 16 vessels had been loaded with crude or gas oil in Venezuela between October 2025 and January 2026. Ten of these vessels had switched off their AIS transmitters and had probably departed Venezuela, Kpler mentioned.
The different six vessels, all of which had taken on crude in December and January, have an estimated mixed capability of virtually 9 million barrels of oil, Kpler mentioned.
AIS information indicated three of these had not but departed Venezuela, Kpler mentioned, whereas the different three had switched their transmitters off.