WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic after pursuing it from off the coast of Venezuela, in an operation set to ratchet up tensions with Moscow. US officials say the tanker is part of a so-called shadow fleet that carries oil for countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions. The ship had thwarted an earlier attempt to board it last month near Venezuela, where a US raid on Saturday toppled the country&#39;s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro. &quot;The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court,&quot; US European Command, which oversees American forces in the region, said in a statement on X. After the operation, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted that the US blockade on Venezuelan oil was in full effect &quot;anywhere in the world.&quot; Shortly after confirming the successful North Atlantic seizure, the US military announced a second sanctioned tanker ship had been seized in the Caribbean Sea. US special forces at the weekend snatched Maduro and his wife from Caracas and flew them to New York to face trial on drug charges. Since then, Trump has said that the United States will &quot;run&quot; Venezuela and US companies will control its critical oil industry. The North Atlantic operation came despite Russia sending a submarine to escort the empty tanker, saying the vessel was sailing under the Russian flag and was far from the US coast. &quot;For reasons unclear to us, the Russian vessel is receiving heightened attention from the US and NATO militaries &mdash; attention that is clearly disproportionate to its peaceful status,&quot; Russia&#39;s foreign ministry said, prior to the seizure. Venezuelan oil The vessel, formerly known as the Bella-1, switched its registration to Russia, changed its name to the Marinera and the tanker&#39;s crew reportedly painted a Russian flag on the tanker. The tanker had been en route to the South American country but was not carrying cargo before it evaded the US blockade. It has been under US sanctions since 2024 over alleged ties to Iran and Hezbollah. Trump said Tuesday that Venezuela will hand over tens of millions of barrels of oil to the United States after Maduro was seized. Trump said 30&ndash;50 million barrels of &quot;high‑quality, sanctioned&quot; Venezuelan crude will be shipped to US ports, with the revenue &mdash; perhaps more than $2 billion at current market prices &mdash;&nbsp;placed under his personal control. It was not clear whether Venezuela&#39;s new ruler &mdash; interim president Delcy Rodriguez &mdash; had agreed to hand over the oil, how the plan would work, or what its legal basis would be. Interim president Rodriguez &mdash; a long-time member of Maduro&#39;s inner circle as vice president and energy minister &mdash; has vowed cooperation with the United States amid fears that Trump could persue wider regime change. Trump has said Washington is now &quot;in charge&quot; of the South American nation and has vowed a new doctrine of US dominance in the western hemisphere.

Americas

US officials say the tanker is part of a 'shadow fleet' that carries oil for countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.

US seizes Russia-flagged oil tanker chased to North Atlantic

WASHINGTON:&nbsp;The Pentagon&#39;s independent watchdog said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth&#39;s use of the commercial messaging app Signal to discuss strikes on Yemen could have put American troops at risk, US media reported Wednesday. The probe by the inspector general&rsquo;s office concluded that Hegseth did not violate rules on classification, however, because he has the authority to declassify information, the reports said, citing sources familiar with the results of the investigation. &lsquo;Extrajudicial killings&rsquo;The watchdog&rsquo;s conclusion -- which has been transmitted to Congress -- is nonetheless likely to reignite debate over conduct by Hegseth, who is already under fire over <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/white-house-confirms-admiral-ordered-2nd-strike-on-alleged-drug-boat" style="color:#0073e6;">US strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats</a> that experts say amount to extrajudicial killings. The probe was sparked by The Atlantic magazine&#39;s revelation in late March that its editor-in-chief was inadvertently included in a Signal chat in which US officials, including Hegseth and then-national security advisor Mike Waltz, discussed strikes on Yemen&#39;s Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Editor labelled &lsquo;liar&rsquo;The magazine initially withheld the details the officials discussed, but later published them after the White House insisted that no classified information was shared and attacked the editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, as a liar. The chat included messages in which Hegseth revealed the timing of strikes hours before they happened and information on aircraft and missiles involved, while Waltz sent real-time intelligence on the aftermath of the military action. &lsquo;TOTAL exoneration&rsquo;In a post to X late on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the review &quot;a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth.&quot;<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1996367776089571829&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fsections%2F&sessionId=92a695e3547cf2463211d3633b6c821060f9ae9c&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 320px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>The Atlantic said that Waltz had set some Signal messages to disappear after one week and others after four, raising questions about whether federal records law was violated. Waltz fired, Hegseth survivesTrump rejected calls to fire Hegseth and largely pinned the blame on Waltz, whom he ultimately replaced as national security advisor, appointing him as US ambassador to the United Nations instead. US media then reported in April that Hegseth had created a second Signal chat in which the March Yemen strikes were discussed with people, including his wife and brother, but the Pentagon chief likewise weathered that storm and remained in office. US forces launched a renewed air campaign against the Houthis on March 15. Trump&#39;s strikes against the Houthis lasted until early May, when a ceasefire agreement was reached with the help of Omani mediation.

The watchdog’s conclusion -- which has been transmitted to Congress -- is likely to reignite debate over conduct by Hegseth, who is already under fire over US strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.

Probe found Hegseth’s Signal use could have put US troops at risk: reports

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plan to address hundreds of US military officials in person Tuesday after the Pentagon suddenly asked top commanders from around the world to convene at a base in Virginia without publicly revealing the reason.&nbsp;The gathering at the Marine Corps base in Quantico near Washington has fueled intense speculation about the purpose and value of summoning such a large number of generals and admirals to one place, with many stationed in more than a dozen countries that include conflict zones in the Middle East and elsewhere.&nbsp;Meetings between top military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new. But experts say the scale of the gathering, the haste with which it was called and the mystery surrounding it are particularly unusual.&nbsp;&ldquo;The notion that the secretary is going to talk to the generals and give them his vision for running the department &mdash; and maybe also for strategy and organization &mdash; that&rsquo;s perfectly reasonable,&rdquo; said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a retired Marine colonel. <img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/730efb63-83ff-4b17-b620-7eecfdd4ff3f.jpg" style="width: 1000px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"> &nbsp;&ldquo;What&#39;s mystifying is why it&#39;s on such short notice, why it&#39;s in person and what else might be involved,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;The uncertainty comes as the country faces a potential government shutdown this week and as Hegseth, who has hammered home a focus on lethality and what he calls the &ldquo;warrior ethos,&quot; has taken several unusual and unexplained actions, including ordering cuts to the number of general officers and firings of other top military leaders.&nbsp;News about the abruptly scheduled meeting broke on Thursday, and top Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed it but declined to release further details.&nbsp;Trump didn&rsquo;t seem to know about it when he was asked by reporters during an Oval Office appearance later that day. The president said he&#39;ll &quot;be there if they want me, but why is that such a big deal?&rdquo;&nbsp;A White House official said Sunday that Trump also will speak at the gathering. The president told NBC News that he and Hegseth would be &ldquo;talking about how well we&rsquo;re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things.&rdquo;&nbsp;Vice President JD Vance argued last week that the media had turned it into a &ldquo;big story&rdquo; and that it was &ldquo;not particularly unusual that generals who report to&rdquo; Hegseth are coming to speak with him.&nbsp;Italian Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of NATO&rsquo;s Military Committee, described the meeting as unusual and told reporters Saturday after a NATO meeting in Riga, Latvia, that &ldquo;as far as my 49 years of service, I&rsquo;ve never seen that before.&rdquo;&nbsp;The lack of detailed information has prompted many in Washington to speculate about the meeting&#39;s focus. Whatever it is, Michael O&rsquo;Hanlon of the Brookings Institution said he suspects there will be a dramatic element that may be &quot;as important as any substantive element.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;Just the sheer scale makes you wonder what kind of meaningful interaction can occur,&rdquo; said O&#39;Hanlon, Brookings&#39; director of research for foreign policy. &ldquo;And therefore, it smacks more of theatrics or of trying to impose than of trying to exchange views.&quot;&nbsp;Bryan Clark, a senior fellow and director of the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology at the Hudson Institute, said he expects the meeting to center on the Trump administration&rsquo;s shift in defense policy. The US military is expected to focus less on Europe and Asia and more on the Northern Hemisphere, a change that breaks with decades of precedent, he said.&nbsp;Hegseth has championed the military&#39;s role in securing the US-Mexico border, deploying to American cities as part of Trump&#39;s law enforcement surges, and carrying out strikes on boats in the Caribbean that the administration says targeted drug traffickers.&nbsp;&ldquo;I think they&rsquo;re trying to set the tone, set the context, for these generals and admirals to say the strategy we have coming out is very different from what you&rsquo;re used to &mdash; we need you to all be on board with it,&quot; Clark said.&nbsp;Video teleconferencing across the world is difficult because leaders are spread across time zones, Clark said. Forcing them to attend the meeting in person will drill the point home.&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a way of demonstrating that this is important,&quot; Clark said.

The gathering at the Marine Corps base in Quantico near Washington sparks intense speculation about the purpose and value of summoning such a large number of generals and admirals to one place.

Articles tagged with "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth"

US seizes Russia-flagged oil tanker chased to North Atlantic

Probe found Hegseth’s Signal use could have put US troops at risk: reports

Trump, Hegseth set to meet with hundreds of military leaders as speculation grows