Name: Seized Venezuela-linked oil tanker was sailing under Russian flag
Uploaded: 2026-01-08T16:55:15.391Z
Duration: 3 min 8 s
Description: The oil tanker Marinera — formerly the Bella‑1 and linked to Venezuelan oil shipments — was seized in the North Atlantic after sailing under a Russian flag in an apparent attempt to evade U.S. sanctions enforcement.

The oil tanker Marinera — formerly the Bella‑1 and linked to Venezuelan oil shipments — was seized in the North Atlantic after sailing under a Russian flag in an apparent attempt to evade U.S. sanctions enforcement.

Washington

US forces recently seized two oil tankers connected to Venezuela, one of which had been reflagged as Russian and was captured between the UK and Iceland. The operation, involving Navy SEALs and the US Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, followed an earlier unsuccessful attempt to intercept the tanker near Venezuela.

The second tanker, Sofia, was seized by Coast Guard special forces in the Atlantic near Venezuela without incident. Of the four carriers now seized, one was empty while the Sofia was loaded and is expected to be transported to the United States.

Seized Venezuela-linked oil tanker was sailing under Russian flag

Meanwhile, President Trump says he expects that the U.S. could be running and extracting oil from Venezuela's reserves for years. The comments came after U.S. forces seized two oil tankers yesterday over ties to Venezuela. New CBS polling shows a majority of Americans disapprove of his decision to remove Nicolas Maduro from power in the first place. I want to bring in senior national security correspondent Charlie Daggett to talk more about this. Charlie, what have we learned in just the last 24 hours since those military operations yesterday? Yeah, Vlad, a lot. I want to focus first on the Beloum, because there were two oil tankers that were seized yesterday, roughly the same time. But the one in the North Atlantic is the one we're focusing on. Why? Because it had been reflagged, rebranded as a Russian oil tanker. The Russians did this a few weeks ago. It's worth noting that the United States did try to intersect that—or intercept, I'm sorry, that oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela back December 21st. And the crew wasn't going to let it—wasn't going to allow that. So it started setting sail off to the North Atlantic. So it was finally captured between the U.K. and Iceland yesterday. But what makes this important is Navy SEALs were involved in the capture of the Beloum one. It was rebranded and reflagged as the Marinara—not the marinara, like the sauce—by the Russians. A few weeks ago, with the idea that that might serve as a deterrent, that the United States wouldn't dare try to take a Russian-flagged oil tanker. And they even sent a submarine to escort it. The Americans got there first. And it's also worth noting, along with those Navy SEALs, the U.S. Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, these are the same teams that were part of the Maduro extraction. These are the same teams that were part of the Osama bin Laden extraction. So these are essentially the aircraft that bring in the special forces like the Navy SEALs. So that was a special forces directed and operated capture of that particular tanker because of where it was and the fact that it's flagged Russian, in fact, that we have seen lots of aircraft, U.S. aircraft, going in and out of the U.K., the closest place where we have bases there, including the P-8 Poseidon, which is a surveillance aircraft that's sometimes called a submarine hunter. So all of that is because that's a sort of next-level capture. On the other side of that, you've got the Sofia, which is off the coast of Venezuela. That was actually in open waters in the Atlantic. That was a more traditional, if you like, capture of an oil tanker, where you had Coast Guard special forces. They took it over without incident. And now that makes four carriers. Worth noting that the Bella was essentially empty. It wasn't carrying any oil on it. But the Sofia was loaded. And like the two other tankers that were captured in that area, it will likely make its way to the United States.

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