US pursuing third oil tanker linked to Venezuela, official says

The US Coast Guard is in "active pursuit" of a vessel in international waters near Venezuela as tensions in the region continue to escalate.

US authorities have already seized two oil tankers this month - one of them on Saturday.

Sunday's pursuit related to a "sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela's illegal sanctions evasion", a US official told the BBC's partner CBS News. "It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order."

The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of using oil money to fund drug-related crime, while Venezuela has described the tanker seizures as "piracy".

According to the New York Times (NYT), late on Saturday the US Coast Guard approached an oil tanker, which US officials said was not flying a valid national flag.

British maritime risk management group Vanguard identified the tanker as Bella 1, a very large crude oil carrier which reportedly was on its way to Venezuela to pick up oil.

The US added the Bella 1 to its sanctions list last year for allegedly "carrying sanctioned cargo".

When it added the Bella 1 to its sanctions list, the US Treasury Department accused its registered owner of having links to Iran and of providing support Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The NYT reports the tanker "did not submit to being boarded" and fled northeast into the Atlantic Ocean with the US Cost Guard in pursuit.

The Bella 1 is the third oil tanker to be targeted by the US in waters off Venezuela.

On 10 December, the Coast Guard seized the Skipper, which US Attorney General Pam Bondi said was "used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran".

The Skipper has since been taken under escort to Galveston in Texas, where it arrived on Sunday.