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Associated Press

US military forces boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the ship from the Caribbean Sea as part of an oil quarantine meant to squeeze Venezuela, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday.
Venezuela had faced US sanctions on its oil and relied on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. Following the US raid to capture then-president Nicolas Maduro in early January, several tankers fled the Venezuelan coast, including the ship that was boarded in the Indian Ocean overnight.
Hegseth vowed to eventually capture all those ships, telling a group of shipyard workers in Maine on Monday that “the only guidance I gave to my military commanders is none of those are getting away”.
“I don’t care if we got to go around the globe to get them; we’re going to get them,” he added.

When the @DeptofWar says quarantine, we mean it. Nothing will stop DoW from defending our Homeland — even in oceans halfway around the world.
Overnight, U.S. military forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding on the Aquila II without incident in the… pic.twitter.com/kYVAQC5io9
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) February 9, 2026

Later Monday, the US military said it had carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
US Southern Command said the strike killed two people, while one person survived. Southern Command said it had notified the US Coast Guard to activate its search and rescue system for the survivor. A video linked to the post shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames.
Monday’s attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats to 130 people.
The Trump administration has seized seven tankers as part of its broader efforts to take control of the South American country’s oil. Unlike those previous actions, the Aquila II has not been formally seized and placed under US control, a US defence official said.
Instead, the ship was being held while its ultimate fate was decided by the US, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Aquila II is a Panamanian-flagged tanker under US sanctions related to the shipment of illicit Russian oil. Owned by a company with a listed address in Hong Kong, ship tracking data showed it has spent much of the last year with its radio transponder turned off, a practice known as “running dark” commonly employed by smugglers to hide their location.




It was one of at least 16 tankers that fled the Venezuelan coast last month, according to Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, who said his organisation used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship’s movements. According to data transmitted from the ship Monday, it is not currently laden with a cargo of crude oil.
The Pentagon’s post on X said the military “conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction” on the ship.
“The Aquila II was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” the Pentagon said. “It ran, and we followed.”
“The Department of War tracked and hunted this vessel from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean. No other nation on planet Earth has the capability to enforce its will through any domain.”
A US Navy official would not say what forces were used in the operation but confirmed the destroyers USS Pinckney and USS John Finn as well as the mobile base ship USS Miguel Keith were operating in the Indian Ocean.
In videos the Pentagon posted to social media, uniformed forces can be seen boarding a US Navy helicopter that takes off from a ship that matches the profile of the Miguel Keith. Video and photos of the tanker shot from inside a helicopter also show a US Navy destroyer sailing alongside the ship.
Since the US ouster of Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid on January 3, the Trump administration has set out to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s petroleum products. Officials in President Donald Trump’s Republican administration have made it clear they see seizing the tankers as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump also has been trying to restrict the flow of oil to Cuba, which faces strict economic sanctions by the US and relies heavily on oil shipments from allies like Mexico, Russia and Venezuela.
Since the Venezuela operation, Trump has said that no more Venezuelan oil will go to Cuba and that the Cuban government is ready to fall. Trump also recently signed an executive order that would impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, primarily pressuring Mexico because it has acted as an oil lifeline for Cuba.


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‘Tracked and hunted’: US forces board tanker in Indian Ocean after pursuit

Americas and the Caribbean

The Aquila II tanker, which was boarded by US forces 
after it was ‘tracked and hunted’ from the Caribbean. Photo: Pentagon via X


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The US military’s Southern Command said it captured the MV Sagitta ‘without incident’. Photo: US Southern Command via X

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US President Donald Trump has called for a new nuclear treaty with  China and Russia after the New Start agreement expired on Thursday. Photo: AP

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Retired Navy Admiral Charles Richard favoured a rapid build-up of warheads and new delivery systems to bolster deterrence and caution adversaries. Photo: Facebook

US destroys another alleged drug boat in Pacific, killing 2

The alleged drug boat moments before the US strike. Photo: US Southern Command via X

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US military intercepts the US-sanctioned Aquila II after a transoceanic chase from the Caribbean


US military intercepts the US-sanctioned Aquila II after a transoceanic chase from the Caribbean.


‘Tracked and hunted’: US forces board tanker in Indian Ocean after pursuit

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}US military intercepts the US-sanctioned Aquila II after a transoceanic chase from the Caribbean

US military intercepts the US-sanctioned Aquila II after a transoceanic chase from the Caribbean