Washington DC - The US Coast Guard was pursuing another tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Sunday, a US official told AFP, as President Donald Trump's aggressive campaign against the Latin American country continued.
The "active pursuit" in the Caribbean Sea was happening a day after the Coast Guard seized its second vessel in two weeks.
Trump announced on December 16 a blockade of "sanctioned oil vessels" sailing to and from Venezuela, essentially claiming ownership of Venezuela's oil reserves.
He has also deployed a large navy armada in the Caribbean, supposedly to combat drug trafficking.
"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 US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed in a statement to AFP.
Reports identified the ship involved as the Bella 1, an oil tanker under US sanctions since 2024 because of alleged ties to Iran and Hezbollah.
According to the specialized site TankerTrackers, the ship was en route to Venezuela but not carrying cargo.
US forces approached the vessel late Saturday, but the ship did not submit to being boarded and continued sailing, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials.
Venezuelan vice president makes statement on Chevron tanker
Earlier on Saturday, the US Coast Guard seized the Centuries, which according to TankerTrackers is a Chinese-owned and Panama-flagged tanker.
It said that ship was loaded with 1.8 million barrels of crude oil at a Venezuelan port earlier this month before being escorted out of the Latin American country's exclusive economic zone on December 18.
An AFP review found that the Centuries did not appear on the US Treasury Department's list of sanctioned companies and individuals.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez on Sunday posted a statement to social media about oil giant Chevron sending a tanker from Caracas to the US carrying Venezuelan oil.
Chevron renewed its license this year to extract crude oil from Venezuela, accounting for roughly 10 percent of the country's production.
"Venezuela has always been, and will continue to be, respectful of national and international legality," Rodriguez continued.
The Trump administration claims that Venezuela is using oil, its main resource, to finance what it calls "narcoterrorism" and is threatening the country with war.
The US military since September has also conducted a series of air strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 100 people it has accused without providing evidence of being drug traffickers. The attacks have been blasted as illegal and potentially constituting crimes.