US forces in theIndian Oceanhave seized a tanker, understood to be part ofRussia's shadow fleet, after tracking it for thousands of miles from the Caribbean, the Department of Defense has said. According to US officials, the ship - named Aquila II - was operating in defiance of a US "quarantine ofsanctionedvessels in the Caribbean," imposed byDonald Trump'sadministration.
"It ran, and we followed," the department said on X (formerly Twitter), adding: "No other nation on planet Earth has the capability to enforce its will through any domain. By land, air, or sea, our Armed Forces will find you and deliver justice. You will run out of fuel long before you will outrun us." Forces boarded and inspected the tanker, which was reportedly involved in the export of sanctionedRussian oiland petroleum products from Russian ports in theBlack Sea, Baltic Sea and Pacific region, including through deceptive practices.
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Aquila II is affiliated with Sunne Co Ltd, a shipping company based in Dalian, China, and heavily involved in transporting Russian andVenezuelancrude oil, which the US sanctioned on January 10 last year for activity inRussia's energy sector. Restrictions were subsequently imposed by the UK, the EU, Canada, Switzerland andUkraine.
A video accompanied the social media post, showing US service personnel in military fatigues boarding the ship via helicopter.
"When the [defence department] says quarantine, we mean it," the US Department of Defense said in its X post, adding that nothing would stop the US military from enforcement, "even in oceans halfway around the world".
When the@DeptofWarsays quarantine, we mean it. Nothing will stop DoW from defending our Homeland — even in oceans halfway around the world.Overnight, U.S. military forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding on the Aquila II without incident in the…pic.twitter.com/kYVAQC5io9
This is the latest of several seizures by the US in recent months, asDonald Trump's administration moves to control the supply of Venezuelan oil - the country's main economic resource. On January 9, the US seized the tanker,Olina, in the Caribbean Sea, two days after forces took control of two tankers, including theRussian-flagged vessel Bella 1 (Marinera), which they had pursued for more than two weeks.
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Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
