On Thursday, January 15, 2026, the United States Southern Command (US Southern Command, USSOUTHCOM) announced the detention of the crude oil tanker M/T Veronica (IMO 9256860) in the southern Caribbean Sea, near the coast of Venezuela. The vessel, sailing under the flag of Guyana, is subject to U.S. sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as part of measures targeting the so-called Shadow Fleet linked to Russia, Venezuela, and Iran, which is illegally transporting crude oil.
Photo: USSOUTHCOM
As reported, earlier this morning local time, U.S. Marines and sailors from the Combined Task Force Southern Spear, supporting the Department of Homeland Security, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and successfully detained the crude oil tanker M/T Veronica, which was sailing in ballast in the Caribbean Sea. The operation was secured by the amphibious ships USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), USS San Antonio (LPD-17), and USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28). The vessel departed the Venezuelan port of Amuay on January 3 and attempted to violate the U.S. embargo.
This is the sixth tanker detained by the United States in just over a month. At the end of last year, even before the capture by U.S. forces of the unrecognized president Nicolás Maduro (January 3, 2026), two tankers directly linked to the export of Venezuelan oil, including those connected to Iran, were detained: M/T Skipper (December 10, 2025) and M/T Centuries (December 20, 2025).
On January 7, the United States detained two tankers: M/V Bella 1, a.k.a. Marinera, after a pursuit in the waters of the North Atlantic (during its escape it obtained the flag of the Russian Federation, which did not prevent its detention), and M/T Sophia in the Caribbean Sea. Two days later, the tanker M/V Olina was also detained.
M/T Veronica is an Aframax-class crude oil tanker built in 2003, with a length of 240.78 m, a beam of 44 m, a gross tonnage of 61,991 tons, and a deadweight of 115,527 DWT. From June 2020 to May 2022, it sailed under the Iranian flag as Lana—according to TankerTrackers.com, it directly exported Iranian crude oil ten times and received it five times. Earlier, as Pegas and Perun, it sailed under the Russian flag and was owned by entities linked to PSB Bank of Mikhail Fradkov.
Before becoming part of the Shadow Fleet, from October 2008 it sailed under the Liberian flag as Harm and Texas Star (briefly also under the Dutch flag in 2005–2006), and from July 2003 as Montiron (Liberia).
It is also worth noting in the context of the Shadow Fleet that after the United Kingdom helped detain M/V Bella 1, that country’s Ministry of Defence announced that it would also independently detain tankers subject to sanctions.
Through #OpSouthernSpear, the Department of War is unwavering in its mission to crush illicit activity in the Western Hemisphere in partnership with @USCG through @DHSgov and @TheJusticeDept.
In another pre-dawn action, Marines and Sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear,… pic.twitter.com/brxO9xXUu3
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) January 15, 2026
Early this morning, a Coast Guard tactical team conducted a pre-dawn boarding and seizure of Motor Tanker Veronica in the Caribbean. As another sanctioned ghost fleet tanker, Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of… pic.twitter.com/MyWyQGH1h0
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) January 15, 2026