The “active pursuit” in the Caribbean Sea was happening a day after the Coast Guard seized its second vessel off Venezuela in two weeks.
US President Donald Trump announced on Dec 16 a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela, demanding the return of allegedly stolen US assets in the oil-rich South American country.
He has also deployed a large navy armada in the Caribbean with a stated mission of combatting drug trafficking, but which Caracas says is a pressure campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.
“The US Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion. It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order,” a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in a statement to AFP.
News outlets identified the ship involved as the Bella 1, an oil tanker under US sanctions since 2024 because of alleged ties to Iran and Hezbollah.
According to the specialised site TankerTrackers, the ship was en route to Venezuela but not carrying cargo.
US forces approached the vessel late Saturday, but the ship did not submit to being boarded and continued sailing, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials.
Earlier on Saturday, the US Coast Guard seized the Centuries, which according to TankerTrackers is a Chinese-owned and Panama-flagged tanker.
It said that ship was loaded with 1.8 million barrels of crude oil at a Venezuelan port earlier this month before being escorted out of the Latin American country’s exclusive economic zone on Dec 18.
An AFP review found that the Centuries did not appear on the US treasury department’s list of sanctioned companies and individuals.
The Trump administration claims that Venezuela is using oil, its main resource, to finance “narcoterrorism”.
The US military since September has also conducted a series of air strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Critics have questioned the legality of the attacks, which have killed more than 100 people.
Caracas denies any involvement in drug trafficking and insists that Washington is seeking to overthrow Maduro to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves.