WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in back-to-back actions in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea, officials said Wednesday, and is removing sanctions to enable the shipping and sale of oil from the South American country to markets worldwide.

U.S. European Command announced the seizure of the merchant vessel Bella 1 for “violations of U.S. sanctions” in a social media post. The U.S. had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade a U.S. blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela.

Then, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem revealed that U.S. forces also took control of the tanker Sophia in the Caribbean. Noem said in a social media post both ships were “either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it.”

Noem said that both ships are part of a large “ghost fleet” of sanctioned vessels that carry oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela in defiance of Western sanctions, mostly to customers in Asia.

The Trump administration is “selectively” removing sanctions to enable the shipping and sale of Venezuelan oil to global markets, according to an outline of the policies published Wednesday by the Energy Department.

The oil sales are slated to begin immediately with the sale of 30 million to 50 million barrels from the South American country. The U.S. government said the sales “will continue indefinitely” with the proceeds settling in U.S.-controlled accounts at “globally recognized banks.” The money would then be disbursed to the U.S. and Venezuelan populations at the “discretion” of Trump’s government.

The two ship seizures come just days after U.S. military forces conducted a surprise nighttime raid on Venezuela’s capital of Caracas and captured then-President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, whom President Donald Trump’s administration has accused of partnering with drug traffickers.

Since that raid, officials in Trump’s Republican administration have said that they intend to continue to seize sanctioned vessels connected to the country.

“We are enforcing American laws with regards to oil sanctions,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC on Sunday. “We go to court. We get a warrant. We seize those boats with oil. And that will continue.”

The U.S. military seized the Bella 1 and subsequently handed over control of it to law enforcement officials, said a U.S. official, who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

The ship was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 for allegedly smuggling cargo for a company linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

It was cruising across the Atlantic nearing the Caribbean on Dec. 15 when it abruptly turned and changed its heading north, toward Europe. The change in direction came days after the first U.S. tanker seizure of a ship called the Skipper, on Dec. 10, after it had left Venezuela carrying a cargo of oil.

The U.S. Coast Guard attempted to board it in the Caribbean in December as it headed for Venezuela. The ship refused boarding and headed across the Atlantic. U.S. European Command confirmed that the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro tracked the ship ahead of its seizure “pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court” in a social media post.

During this time, the Bella 1 was renamed Marinera and flagged to Russia, shipping databases show. The U.S. official also confirmed that the ship’s crew had painted a Russian flag on the side of the hull.

Earlier Wednesday, open-source maritime tracking sites showed its position as between Scotland and Iceland, traveling north. The U.S. official also confirmed the ship was in the North Atlantic.

Flight tracking websites showed several U-28A U.S. special operations aircraft landing at Wick John O’Groats airport on the northern tip of Scotland, before flying further north toward Iceland on Wednesday. P8 Poseidon submarine-hunting aircraft and KC-135 refueling planes were also seen on tracking websites, heading to the area near the tanker.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said before the seizure that it was “following with concern the anomalous situation that has developed around the Russian oil tanker Marinera.”

Immediately following news of the seizure, Russia’s Ministry of Transport confirmed the boarding in a statement and noted that “no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states,” citing the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Maduro appeared in court this week in New York, where he protested his capture and pleaded not guilty to the federal drug trafficking charges the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power in Venezuela. Maduro’s lawyer said he expects to contest the legality of his “military abduction.”

“I am here kidnapped since Jan. 3, Saturday,” Maduro said in Spanish in court on Monday. “I was captured at my home in Caracas.” ___

Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker in Washington, contributed to this report.

MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a 77-year-old woman who went overboard on a cruise ship near Cuba on New Year’s Day.

Crews searched for eight hours over 690 square miles (1,787 square kilometers) for the woman, whose name had not been made public, the Coast Guard said. She was aboard the Holland America Line cruise ship Nieuw Statendam when she went overboard Thursday, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Sabana, Cuba. Details about how the woman went overboard were not immediately available.

The Coast Guard said it had deployed helicopters and a large vessel called a cutter to help with the search.

“Our family assistance team is supporting the guest’s family, and our thoughts are with the guest’s loved ones during this difficult time,” Holland America Line said in a statement.

The ship departed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last Saturday for a seven-day cruise in the eastern Caribbean. It was scheduled to dock Friday in Key West, Florida, but the stop was canceled because of the search, the cruise line said.

June 4 (Reuters) – The crew of a cargo ship carrying around 3,000 vehicles, including 800 electric vehicles, abandoned it off the coast of Alaska after a fire broke out onboard, its operator Zodiac Maritime said on Wednesday.

The 22 crew members were safely evacuated from the ship after they failed to put out the fire, Zodiac said as it focuses on salvaging the vessel.

They were evacuated via lifeboat and were being transferred to a nearby merchant vessel in tandem with the U.S. Coast Guard.

The vessel, Morning Midas, was located 300 miles (482.8 km) southwest of Adak in Alaska, the Coast Guard said on its X account.

The Liberia-flagged ship left China’s Yantai port on May 26 and was on the way to Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, according to LSEG data.

Smoke was initially seen rising from a deck loaded with EVs, the company said. It is not clear what brand of vehicles the ship was carrying.

EV-related fires on ships are challenging to extinguish due to the heat generated and risk of reignition, which could persist for days.

The Coast Guard said aircrew and a cutter ship have been sent to assist with the situation and three vessels were already on the scene.

In 2022, a ship carrying 4,000 luxury cars, including Porsches and Bentleys, sank off the Portuguese Azores archipelago nearly two weeks after it caught fire.

Fires onboard vessels, particularly on container ships, car carriers and roll-on/roll-off ships are a big concern for insurers.

Steamship Mutual, one of the insurers of Morning Midas, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Such incidents across all vessel segments hit the highest level in a decade in 2024, according to insurer Allianz Commercial.

“The reality is the risk remains significant due to the size of these ships and the complexities involved in firefighting and salvage,” Allianz said in its 2025 safety and shipping review report.

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia, Rajveer Singh Pardesi and Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Arun Koyyur)