The U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing a third oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea as part of President Donald Trump’s blockade of Venezuelan oil operations, officials confirmed late Sunday.
“The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion. It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order,” a U.S. official told multiple news outlets.
The vessel being pursued is the Bella 1, which was placed on the U.S. sanctions list in June 2024 for its alleged involvement in transporting illegal cargo sold to help radical Islamic terrorist groups, including Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. The vessel was sanctioned under counterterrorism authority for its involvement in the network of Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal.
The Bella 1 was empty and heading to load oil in Venezuela when the Coast Guard began pursuit, according to sources familiar with the operation. The vessel had not been boarded as of Monday morning.
The pursuit comes one day after the Coast Guard seized a second tanker, the Panama-flagged Centuries, in a predawn operation Saturday. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted video footage of the seizure on social media.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you,” Noem wrote.
🚨 BREAKING: Video has been released showing the U.S. Coast Guard SEIZING a Venezuelan oil tanker in a tactical operation today
This is the SECOND Venezuelan vessel seized by the U.S. in recent days.
President Trump’s NOT playing around. pic.twitter.com/OFMjUgpv5I
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 20, 2025
The Centuries was carrying approximately 1.8 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan crude oil bound for China. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said the vessel was “a falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil and fund the narcoterrorist Maduro regime.”
On Dec. 10, U.S. forces seized a 20-year-old oil tanker called the Skipper, which had been under sanctions for its ties to Iran.
The operations come after Trump’s announcement of a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before – Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela. The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace. America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump’s statement said.
The U.S. has assembled a large military presence in the Caribbean, including a massive aircraft carrier fleet. American forces have launched more than two dozen military strikes on drug trafficking vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez called the seizures “a serious act of international piracy.”
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically denounces and rejects the theft and hijacking of a new private vessel transporting Venezuelan oil, as well as the forced disappearance of its crew, committed by military personnel of the United States of America in international waters,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
Venezuela’s shadow fleet is a network of approximately 1,000 tankers that operate outside of international law to move oil from sanctioned countries including Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.
These vessels sail under foreign flags to obscure their origins, repeatedly change names, shift legal ownership through shell companies, disable transponders to evade tracking, and conduct mid-sea transfers to mask their illegal cargo.
Venezuelan crude exports have fallen sharply since the U.S. began seizing tankers. Loaded vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil have remained in Venezuelan waters rather than risk seizure in international waters.