U.S. Coast Guard 'in active pursuit' of third vessel off Venezuela

The U.S. Coast Guard “is in active pursuit” of a sanctioned vessel in international waters off Venezuela, two U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter told NBC News.

“The United States 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,” one of the officials said.

The vessel, known as Bella 1, was placed on the U.S. sanctions list in June 2024, according to a person familiar with the list.

The vessel was sanctioned under counterterrorism authority for its involvement in the network of Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal, according to the source.

Shadow fleet vessels usually do not operate exclusively for one country, the person added.

If it is caught, it will be the third vessel the U.S. has intercepted in the Caribbean. On Saturday, the Defense Department interdicted a second tanker, which the White House said carried sanctioned oil.

Members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), a political and economic bloc, condemned the “theft and seizure” of the second vessel transporting Venezuelan oil by the U.S., saying doing so “unlawfully deprived its crew of their liberty.” ALBA members include Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada and Saint Lucia.

"ALBA denounces that this act exposes a deliberate intention to plunder the natural resources of a sovereign country and sets an extremely serious precedent for the region and for the international system as a whole," the group said in a statement Sunday.

The group called the interdiction an “act of piracy” and “inadmissible act of aggression” in violation of the United Nations and international law, and demanded an end to such acts.

Earlier this month, an initial sanctioned boat known as the Skipper was seized off Venezuela.

Tension between the U.S. and Venezuela has been flaring, with the Trump administration conducting strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific.

President Donald Trump did not rule out the possibility of war with Venezuela last week.