Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Monday that U.S. forces boarded an oil tanker traveling from or to Venezuela after pursuing it in the Caribbean. Hegseth said in a post on X that "overnight, U.S. Military Forces conducted a right of visit, maritime interdiction, and boarding on Aquila II with no incident." "It was a run, and we were following."

The U.S. stepped up its blockade of vessels going to or from Venezuela, a South American nation that is a member of OPEC, after capturing Venezuelan president?Nicolas Maduro during a military raid in Caracas last month.

Aquila II, a Suezmax tanker, left Venezuelan waters early in January as part a flotilla. According to the schedules provided by PDVSA, it was carrying 700,000 barrels Venezuelan heavy crude headed for China. The majority of the tankers have either returned to Venezuela, or been seized by?U.S.

Hegseth claimed that the Aquila 2 was violating the U.S. 'quarantine on sanctioned vessels operating in the Caribbean.

The Department of War hunted and tracked this vessel from the Caribbean up to the Indian Ocean. You will run out before you can outrun us," wrote he.

According to shipping databases, it was not clear where the Aquila 2 was registered.

(source: Reuters)