The Trumpo Admin is authorizing the seizure of a number of shadow-fleet oil tankers (mostly crude carriers, including one registered with Russia and that had a sub escorting it).
Vid 1a: Full version. US forces seize a Russian-flagged Venezuelan shadow-fleet tanker the 'Marinera', formerly 'Bella 1', carrying Iranian oil. The US Navy had been chasing this one for just over 2 weeks. In the North Atlantic, early Jan 2026.
Vid 1b: Shorter version, diff angle (same seizure as above ^).
"United States forces boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean Wednesday following a weeks-long chase on the high seas which has escalated tensions with Moscow and piled further pressure on its ally Venezuela.
The aging, rusting tanker, originally called the Bella 1, was sanctioned by the US in 2024 for operating within a “shadow fleet” of tankers transporting illicit Iranian oil.
Last month the US Coast Guard attempted to seize the vessel while it was heading to Venezuela to pick up oil, then operating under the flag of Guyana. But the ship’s crew refused to be boarded and made an abrupt turn into the Atlantic.
The Bella 1’s crew later painted a Russian flag on its side, and it appeared in a Russian shipping register under a new name, the Marinera.
US officials later said Moscow had dispatched a submarine to escort the vessel as it sailed toward Europe, threatening a possible confrontation between Washington and the Kremlin.
Here’s what we know.
Where and how was the Bella 1 seized?
The US repositioned military assets to the UK ahead of seizing the tanker, CNN has reported.
V-22 Osprey aircraft were active in the UK over the past several days, with flight data appearing to show them running training missions in the UK out of Fairford air base. And two AC-130 gunships were seen arriving at Mildenhall base in the UK on Sunday.
The Bella 1 was seized Wednesday roughly 190 miles off the southern coast of Iceland in the northern Atlantic Ocean, according to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic. The site shows the tanker taking a sharp turn south around the time that it was reported seized.
Russia’s Transport Ministry confirmed that it lost contact with the tanker after US forces boarded the ship at 7 a.m. ET.
US Navy SEALs were among the forces that boarded the tanker after they were transported to the ship by the US Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, also known as the “night stalkers,” according to two people briefed on the operation.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the crew of the US Coast Guard Munro had pursued the ship for weeks “across the high seas and through treacherous storms.” However, it’s unclear if the ship in the RT footage is the Munro.
Ahead of the vessel’s seizure, the Russian military had started to move around naval assets and a submarine to protect the ship, according to a US official. But it’s unclear how close those vessels were to the tanker when it was seized, the source said.
How has Russia responded?
Russia condemned the Bella 1’s seizure, with its transport ministry arguing “no state has the right to use force against vessels that are properly registered in the jurisdictions of other nations” under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty which the US has not signed.
The country’s Foreign Ministry demanded that the US return the Russian citizens aboard “to their homeland,” according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
TASS also reported Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky called the US seizure of the vessel an act of “21st-century piracy” which violates international law.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has yet to comment on the seizure. KVOA
Vid 1a: Full version. US forces seize a Russian-flagged Venezuelan shadow-fleet tanker the 'Marinera', formerly 'Bella 1', carrying Iranian oil. The US Navy had been chasing this one for just over 2 weeks. In the North Atlantic, early Jan 2026.
Vid 1b: Shorter version, diff angle (same seizure as above ^).
"United States forces boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean Wednesday following a weeks-long chase on the high seas which has escalated tensions with Moscow and piled further pressure on its ally Venezuela.
The aging, rusting tanker, originally called the Bella 1, was sanctioned by the US in 2024 for operating within a “shadow fleet” of tankers transporting illicit Iranian oil.
Last month the US Coast Guard attempted to seize the vessel while it was heading to Venezuela to pick up oil, then operating under the flag of Guyana. But the ship’s crew refused to be boarded and made an abrupt turn into the Atlantic.
The Bella 1’s crew later painted a Russian flag on its side, and it appeared in a Russian shipping register under a new name, the Marinera.
US officials later said Moscow had dispatched a submarine to escort the vessel as it sailed toward Europe, threatening a possible confrontation between Washington and the Kremlin.
Here’s what we know.
Where and how was the Bella 1 seized?
The US repositioned military assets to the UK ahead of seizing the tanker, CNN has reported.
V-22 Osprey aircraft were active in the UK over the past several days, with flight data appearing to show them running training missions in the UK out of Fairford air base. And two AC-130 gunships were seen arriving at Mildenhall base in the UK on Sunday.
The Bella 1 was seized Wednesday roughly 190 miles off the southern coast of Iceland in the northern Atlantic Ocean, according to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic. The site shows the tanker taking a sharp turn south around the time that it was reported seized.
Russia’s Transport Ministry confirmed that it lost contact with the tanker after US forces boarded the ship at 7 a.m. ET.
US Navy SEALs were among the forces that boarded the tanker after they were transported to the ship by the US Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, also known as the “night stalkers,” according to two people briefed on the operation.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the crew of the US Coast Guard Munro had pursued the ship for weeks “across the high seas and through treacherous storms.” However, it’s unclear if the ship in the RT footage is the Munro.
Ahead of the vessel’s seizure, the Russian military had started to move around naval assets and a submarine to protect the ship, according to a US official. But it’s unclear how close those vessels were to the tanker when it was seized, the source said.
How has Russia responded?
Russia condemned the Bella 1’s seizure, with its transport ministry arguing “no state has the right to use force against vessels that are properly registered in the jurisdictions of other nations” under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty which the US has not signed.
The country’s Foreign Ministry demanded that the US return the Russian citizens aboard “to their homeland,” according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
TASS also reported Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky called the US seizure of the vessel an act of “21st-century piracy” which violates international law.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has yet to comment on the seizure. KVOA
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