Americas
Navy, Marines, Coast Guard seize sixth sanctioned oil tanker with alleged Venezuela ties
From staff and wire reports
January 15, 2026
A screengrab from a video posted to X by U.S. Southern Command on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, showing Marines and sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear seizing an oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The service members launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford, the command said. (U.S. Southern Command via X)
U.S. Marines, sailors, and members of the Coast Guard seized an oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea in a mission under Operation Southern Spear, U.S. Southern Command and the Department Homeland Security said on Thursday.
The Marines and sailors launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford in the predawn mission, the command said in a statement and accompanied by a video clip of unclassified footage from the mission.
The tanker Veronica “is the latest tanker operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” the command’s statement said.
The apprehension, made in support of the Department of Homeland Security, occurred without incident, the post said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X that “our heroic Coast Guard men and women once again ensured a flawlessly executed operation, in accordance with international law.”
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.
Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Galileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.