Yup.
US says it seizes Russian-flagged tanker Marinera linked to Venezuelan oil
Earlier, several military aircraft were tracked over the North Atlantic heading towards the Marinera.
www.bbc.com
2025 U.S. - Venezuela conflict
- Thread starter brihard
- Start date
www.bbc.com
They got another one this morning too, the ‘Sophia’, Cameroonian flagged, captured in the Caribbean.
EDIT TO ADD:
Comment from U.S. European Command:
“…threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere”. Interesting and significant wording there.
EDIT TO ADD:
Comment from U.S. European Command:
“…threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere”. Interesting and significant wording there.
Last edited:
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“Good morning boys. Don’t be dumb.”
How long before we see the Russians start putting teams with MANPADS on shadow fleet ships?
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Do we think that Russia is ready to openly kill US service members? That would be quite an escalation...
Probably not? But the capability and ambiguity could be a deterrent.
Probably US Coast Guard MSRT. They have their own capabilities for this kind of boarding, and the lack of an available team was allegedly why the Bella got away the first time. They’ve been hitting drug boats for years.
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Can’t find it now, but saw posts in a Telegram channel that mentioned some Wagner types may have been schwacked in Caracas. They may want to get a bit of plausibly deniable by Vlad revenge.
Agree, along with an FBI rep attached to the team. It was likely a hybrid op, in the sense that the 160th put them on the Bella with AFSOC covering fires.
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Looks like the US didn’t GAF about that Russian deterrent force. Odds are they were electronically suppressed by F/A-18E Growlers and would have had their decks strewn with 30mm and 105mm lead from the heavens if they had tried FAFO Ph.1.
How confident are you on the sourcing of that photo? I'm skeptical a sub on this op would be surfaced.
KevinB
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Looks more like a leaving the harbor staying above the minefield sort of pic.
HavokFour
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I had that thought after posting, after much searching I went on a dive through the Russian side of the internet that western services don't usually index and found it on a news site in an article published July 14, 2023. So the usual reverse searches missed it.
I was a bit too quick from the hip.
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I think the photo I posted of the Little Bird is actually from the USCG ship - based on the while guard rails.
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RFA Tideforce was apparently involved as well, but no specific details given.
UK forces helped US seizure of tanker, says MoD
Venezuelan-linked Marinera was stopped by the US Coast Guard as it travelled through waters between Iceland and Scotland.
www.bbc.com
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According to the Miami Herald in October, there were meetings between White House and Chavista officials brokered by, who else, Qatar, to ease Maduro out, make Rodriguez president, kick China out and hand the oil to the US.
daftandbarmy
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RFA Tideforce was apparently involved as well, but no specific details given.
UK forces helped US seizure of tanker, says MoD
Venezuelan-linked Marinera was stopped by the US Coast Guard as it travelled through waters between Iceland and Scotland.
Altair
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Venezuela-Austria
Greenland-Munich (The EU will cave and say this is the last one, the only other alternative is to put troops in Greenland and dare the USA to fire)
Canada-Poland
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