The United States military has boarded a second oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it for a long time from the Caribbean Sea. The tanker was suspected of helping Venezuela avoid US sanctions by transporting oil.

The ship that was boarded is the Panamanian-flagged Veronica III. This is the second time in one week that the US has intercepted an oil tanker in the Indian Ocean. These actions are part of a larger US effort to stop oil exports from Venezuela that are under sanctions.

The Pentagon shared a statement along with video and photos of the operation. In the statement, the Pentagon gave a strong warning, saying that distance will not protect ships involved in such activities. The statement included a message that international waters cannot be used as a safe place to escape US action.

The Pentagon described the mission as “a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding.” However, it did not clearly say whether the US seized the ship or allowed it to continue its journey after inspection.

The Pentagon claimed the ship tried to escape by moving far away from Venezuela. It said the vessel was trying to defy President Donald Trump’s “quarantine” order and hoped it could slip away unnoticed. But according to the Pentagon, US forces tracked the ship from the Caribbean all the way to the Indian Ocean and stopped it.

The statement added that the US military has the ability to reach any part of the world and warned that international waters will not protect vessels involved in illegal transport. It said the US will find such ships by land, air, or sea and take action.

The Veronica III is already under sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department. This means the US considers the ship to be connected with banned oil trade activities.

According to the monitoring group TankerTrackers.com, the ship left Venezuela on January 3. At that time, it was reportedly carrying 1.9 million barrels of crude oil. The group also stated that the tanker is believed to have been involved in transporting Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan oil since 2023.

The report also mentions that the ship departed Venezuela on the same day that the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a raid on his presidential compound in Caracas.

This is not the first similar operation in recent days. Last week, the US announced that it had boarded and inspected another oil tanker named Aquila II. US forces said they had “tracked and hunted” that vessel to the Indian Ocean as well.

These operations come as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on Venezuelan oil exports. Since last year, at least seven oil tankers have been seized by the United States. The goal of these actions is to reduce the supply of Venezuelan oil that is being shipped despite US sanctions.

In December, President Donald Trump said he was ordering a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. At the time, the Venezuelan government criticised this move and described it as “theft.”

The blockade has had a strong impact on Venezuela’s oil exports. Only ships linked to Chevron and heading to the United States have been able to continue operating normally. Other oil shipments have faced strict enforcement.

According to Matt Smith, the head of US analysis at the analytics firm Kpler, oil loadings from Venezuela dropped sharply in January. Exports fell by about half, reaching around 400,000 barrels per day.

The boarding of the Veronica III shows the US is continuing its aggressive efforts to stop sanctioned oil transport, even when ships travel far away from the Americas.