US boards Venezuelan-linked shadow fleet tanker in Indian Ocean crackdown

The U.S. military boarded the Aquila II oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after pursuing it from the Caribbean, in a maritime interdiction tied to Washington’s sanctions crackdown. The Panama-flagged vessel, sanctioned for illicitly transporting Russian and Venezuelan oil and linked to Moscow’s so‑called shadow fleet, carried about 700,000 barrels to China from Venezuela. The incident underscores efforts by U.S. and allied authorities to deny illicit actors access to global oil trade, while European governments move to tighten countermeasures amid environmental risks from potential spills.