US forces board tanker Veronica III in Indian Ocean after it left Venezuela

US military forces have boarded the tanker Veronica III in the Indian Ocean by helicopter, Al Jazeera reports, after the Pentagon said the vessel had tried to evade President Trump's blockade on Venezuela. The ship left Venezuela on 3 January with nearly 2 million barrels of crude and fuel oil. According to the report, it was under US Treasury sanctions relating to Iran, and Panama cancelled its registration in December 2024. Tracking firm TankerTrackers.com told Al Jazeera the tanker had handled Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil since 2023. The Pentagon said US forces "tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean". The Aquila II was intercepted the previous week.

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