US forces tried to board a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as the Trump administration continues to escalate its declared blockade of the country, an action traditionally considered an act of war under international law.
Sources told Bloomberg that the US was still in pursuit of the Bella 1 tanker, which was en route to Venezuela to be loaded with oil before it was boarded by US forces. The outlet initially reported that US forces had boarded the tanker.
US officials told The New York Times that the Bella 1 refused to be boarded by the US and has fled to the northeast, into the Atlantic Ocean. One official described the situation to the paper as an “active pursuit.” US officials said the vessel is under US sanctions, though that doesn’t give the US the right to seize the ship in international waters.
The attempted boarding of the Bella 1 came after the US seized another tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday, called the Centuries, which is also Panamanian-flagged. Notably, the Centuries is not under US sanctions, and its seizure marked an escalation of the US blockade, as President Trump initially declared a blockade on all “sanctioned” tankers entering and leaving Venezuelan ports.
According to the Times, the Centuries was carrying Venezuelan oil belonging to an established China-based oil trader with a history of transporting Venezuelan crude to Chinese refineries. The report also said that the US didn’t have a seizure warrant from the US Department of Justice to take possession of the ship, as it did with the first tanker it boarded earlier this month.
“In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela,” US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X announcing the seizure.
“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,” she added.
Noem’s statement suggests that any tanker carrying Venezuelan oil could be boarded and seized by US forces. Following the seizure, Venezuela’s government strongly condemned the action as theft.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said in a statement that Venezuela “denounces and rejects the theft and hijacking of a new private vessel transporting oil, as well as the forced disappearance of its crew, committed by military personnel of the United States of America in international waters.”
Trump administration officials are leaning on legal language to justify what would otherwise be considered theft on the high seas, an apparent attempt to frame the blockade as something other than an act of war, which under the US Constitution requires congressional authorization.
