US boards oil tanker in Indian Ocean after tracking from Caribbean

US forces boarded sanctioned oil tanker Veronica III overnight in the Asia-Pacific region, the Defense Department said on Sunday.

"Overnight, US forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the Veronica III without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility," the department said on the US social media company X.

The vessel "tried to defy President (Donald) Trump's quarantine -- hoping to slip away," according to the statement. "We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down."

The Pentagon said it "will deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of movement in the maritime domain."

The boarding marks the latest in a series of such operations by US forces. It had previously boarded a crude oil tanker named Aquila II in the same area of responsibility.

The Veronica III is listed on the US Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list for engaging in "illegal transportation" of sanctioned Iranian oil on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company and China Concord Petroleum Company, according to OpenSanctions data.

The Panama-flagged tanker, built in 2006 and previously named Symphonic, Veronica and White Nova, is affiliated with Shanghai Future Ship Management Co Ltd, which Washington sanctioned in December 2024 for activities in Iran's oil sector.