U.S. military forces have captured a sanctioned crude oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after following its movements from Caribbean waters, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. In a post on X, the Department of Defense said its personnel boarded the vessel, named the Bertha, overnight and that the operation took place without incident.
The Pentagon accused the tanker of attempting to flout Iran-related sanctions. It noted that the Bertha sails under a Cook Islands flag and is associated with Shanghai Legendary Ship Management Company Limited. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control placed sanctions on the company in January 2020, the Pentagon said.
MarineTraffic ship-tracking data recorded the vessel’s last reported Automatic Identification System position on February 24, showing the Bertha operating in the Indian Ocean off the Maldives.
According to the Pentagon statement, U.S. forces executed a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility. The department said the tanker had been operating "in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean and attempted to evade." The statement added: "From the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, we tracked it and stopped it."
The Pentagon also said, "Three boats ran and now all three have been captured," without providing additional detail on the other vessels referenced.
Earlier in the month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that U.S. forces boarded the Suezmax tanker Aquila II. In January, U.S. authorities seized another Venezuelan-linked crude oil tanker, the Marinera.
The Pentagon’s post additionally noted that U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Defense Department to be renamed the Department of War. The department said that such a change would require action by Congress.
Context and operational notes
The Pentagon described the interdiction as a coordinated tracking and boarding operation spanning ocean regions. Officials emphasized that the boarding of the Bertha was completed without incident and reiterated that the vessel was operating contrary to an existing U.S. quarantine on sanctioned ships.
Publicly available ship-tracking information and the Treasury Department’s designation of the linked company were cited as part of the justification for the action, according to the Pentagon’s post on X.
Conclusion
The U.S. military’s seizure of the Bertha represents the third interdiction publicly referenced by the Pentagon in recent months and was portrayed by officials as part of sustained enforcement efforts against vessels subject to U.S. sanctions. Officials provided limited additional detail on the operation and declined to elaborate on the identities or statuses of the other vessels mentioned.