We got another one!
On Sunday, the War Department announced the boarding and uneventful capture of the Veronica II (one wonders where the Betty II is at the moment), a crude-oil carrier bearing a cargo of oil. The ship has been linked to shipments of Iranian oil in the past. The operation took place in the Indo-Pacific region, although the report doesn't say exactly where.
The Department of War (DOW) said Sunday that U.S. forces interdicted a vessel in the Indo-Pacific after it attempted to evade a quarantine order issued by the Trump administration.
In a statement on X, the DOW said the Veronica III was boarded without incident while it was operating in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility.
"The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine — hoping to slip away. We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down. No other nation has the reach, endurance, or will to do this," the government account wrote.
"International waters are not sanctuary. By land, air, or sea, we will find you and deliver justice," it added. "The Department of War will deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of movement in the maritime domain."
While the capture in itself is a good thing, this may be the best part:
The tanker, a large crude oil carrier built in 2006 and flagged in Panama, has been linked to the transport of hundreds of thousands of metric tons of sanctioned Iranian oil and is affiliated with a Chinese ship-management company that has also been sanctioned.
So, in the capture of this ship, the United States has seized what is very likely illegally shipped Venezuelan oil - that's what the ship's Caribbean origin would seem to indicate - and deprived Iran of an illegitimate source of revenue, while sticking its thumb in the eye of a Chinese company. Chinese companies, mind you, only operate under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party, which is no friend to the United States. I call that a win-win.
Read More: Trump Oil Blockade Leaves Cuba Without Aviation Fuel, and That's a Good Thing
Here's the thing: We need to squeeze Iran's theocratic government as hard as we can right now, and we shouldn't allow Venezuela to get too happy with shipping out their oil, either, at least until they actually hold some honest elections. Squeezing Iran, yes, hurts the very people who are now rising up against the mullahs, and that's sad but necessary. In the end, as I've been saying and writing for some time, they are the ones who have to kick out the Bronze Age barbarians currently running the show in Iran.
The owners and captains of ships like the Veronica II are trying to be slippery, but it doesn't seem to be helping them.
OpenSanctions notes that the ship has previously sailed under different names and flags as part of efforts to evade sanctions and disguise its activities at sea.
The Veronica III was among the vessels sanctioned by Treasury in December 2024 as part of a broader action targeting 35 other entities and tankers involved in transporting illicit Iranian oil to foreign markets.
Winning, still! Another shipment of illegitimate crude oil is now presumably on its way to the United States. Meanwhile, well done to the War Department and the men who got the job done, once more.
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