US forces seize third Iran-linked sanctioned oil tanker
United States military forces have seized a sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, calling it the third such interdiction.
The United States Department of Defense said on X that US forces boarded the tanker Bertha overnight without incident, accusing it of operating in defiance of Iran-related sanctions and President Donald Trump’s quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.
The Bertha, which flies under a Cook Islands flag and is linked to Shanghai Legendary Ship Management Company Limited, was under sanctions imposed in January 2020, according to the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The Pentagon said US forces tracked the vessel from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean before stopping it.
