US aircraft monitor tanker off Ireland that tried to evade Venezuela blockade

Ship changed its name and registered in Russia in apparent attempt to prevent possible US seizure near British Isles

President Donald Trump waves as he arrives on Air Force One,at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP

A hastily reflagged oil tanker 250 miles off the coast of Ireland is under US military surveillance after it evaded capture in the Caribbean Sea in December, changed its name and switched course towards northern Russia.

Bella 1 changed its name to the Marinera, registered in Russia, and its crew painted a crude Russian flag on the side in an apparent attempt to prevent a possible US seizure near the British Isles.

It is one of about a dozen oil tankers that have been trying to escape a US naval blockade of Venezuela, though it is not carrying oil from the South American country that was attacked by the US over the weekend.

Flight records show the Marinera appears to have been closely monitored over the last two days by US P-8 surveillance aircraft flying from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk as it crossed the Atlantic and on a course that may cut into Ireland’s economic waters, 230 miles from its coast.

A series of US C-17 transport flights into RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in the past 36 hours has prompted speculation they are carrying helicopters that could be used by US special forces to take the ship. Two AC-130 helicopter gunships were also filmed arriving at Mildenhall on Sunday.

Seizing a boat with a potentially hostile crew on the high seas is risky, though it would be an operation not dissimilar to the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicholás Maduro, and his wife on Saturday morning.

Soldiers from the elite US Delta Force arrived by helicopter and landed at the president’s fortified compound in Caracas at around 2am. They overwhelmed his personal security and seized Maduro in a two-and-a-half-hour operation.

As Bella 1, the tanker had been preparing to pick up oil from Venezuela last month before the US Coast Guard approached it on 20 December, on suspicion that its country of registration was not valid. The ship was said to be registered in Guyana.

The crew refused to allow it to be boarded and the vessel fled, during which time it re-registered as the Marinera in the Russian port of Sochi. Its tracking transponders, which had been turned off since mid-December, were restored as it headed north.

Bella 1 had been under sanctions by the US treasury since July 2024, accused by the American authorities of being involved in carrying illicit cargo for a company owned by Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group.

Data collected by TankerTrackers, a specialist monitor, said Bella 1 had previously transported 7.3m barrels of Iranian crude and 3.7m barrels of Venezuelan crude oil to China between October 2021 and September 2025.

TankerTrackers said satellite images showed at least four tankers recently left Venezuelan waters through a route north of Isla Margarita, the country’s largest island and a popular resort.

Washington said on Sunday it was imposing a “quarantine” on Venezuelan oil to keep pressure on Venezuela’s government after the capture of Maduro, who faces drug trafficking charges in the US.

The US raid followed a steady buildup of a flotilla in the Caribbean and an announcement on December 16 from Donald Trump, the US president, of a “complete blockade” on Venezuelan oil tankers under sanctions. There is an exemption for oil shipped by Chevron.

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, claimed it was one of the biggest naval quarantines in modern history and was throttling Venezuela’s revenue stream. Washington also wanted to stop Venezuelan oil benefiting US adversaries, he added.

The New York Times reported that at least 16 oil tankers appeared to have tried to break out over the past two days, in part by using fake ship names and misrepresenting their positions, a tactic known as spoofing.

Four left port without authorisation from the interim government led by Delcy Rodríguez, suggesting a possible defiance of her authority, the paper said. It cited internal communications from the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, and oil industry sources.

Reuters reported that a separate group of vessels, also under sanctions, left Venezuela empty after delivering cargos and completing domestic transportation trips.

The Venezuelan government has accused the US of “piracy” but after Maduro’s abduction it has also called for a “balanced and respectful” relationship, in an apparent effort to prevent further military action.

— The Guardian