US Military Boards Oil Tanker in Indian Ocean
The Pentagon released this photo from the operation. (Department of War)
U.S. military forces boarded the oil tanker Aquila II in the Indian Ocean early Monday after tracking it from the Caribbean Sea, the Pentagon announced. The operation was part of ongoing enforcement actions against vessels that Washington says are violating U.S. sanctions and attempting to move crude outside official channels.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Pentagon said its forces carried out a “right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding” of the ship without incident, but did not immediately say whether the vessel had been seized.
The Aquila II is flagged in Panama and is under U.S. sanctions over involvement in moving Russian oil, authorities say. Ship-tracking information shows it spent much of the past year with its transponder turned off — a tactic known as “running dark” that is often used to conceal a vessel’s movements.
Defense officials also noted the tanker was one of at least 16 ships that left Venezuelan waters last month after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. When U.S. forces boarded the Aquila II, data suggested it was not carrying crude oil at that moment, though the ship has been reported as part of flotillas carrying Venezuelan crude in recent weeks.
The Pentagon’s post criticized the tanker for defying the oil “quarantine” established by President Trump in the Caribbean to block sanctioned vessels, saying, “It ran, and we followed.” U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations in Latin America, declined to comment beyond what was posted online.
This is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to tighten control over Venezuela’s oil exports and reduce shipments to countries like Cuba under U.S. sanctions. Officials have previously seized at least seven other sanctioned tankers linked to Venezuela and remain focused on curtailing what they view as illicit crude movements around the world.
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