U.S. Seizes Oil Tanker Recently Registered at Taganrog Port

On January 15, U.S. Marines and Navy personnel operating from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in the Caribbean Sea seized the oil tanker VERONICA, which had repeatedly violated international sanctions.

The U.S. Southern Command announced this.

According to TankerTrackers.com, VERONICA directly exported Iranian oil at least ten times and Venezuelan oil twice. In addition, the tanker received oil on five occasions through ship-to-ship transfers with other vessels.

The tanker was last tracked in Venezuela on January 3, 2026, when it left the port of Amuay without carrying any cargo.

Through #OpSouthernSpear, the Department of War is unwavering in its mission to crush illicit activity in the Western Hemisphere in partnership with @USCG through @DHSgov and @TheJusticeDept.

In another pre-dawn action, Marines and Sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear,… pic.twitter.com/brxO9xXUu3

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) January 15, 2026

According to Russian propagandist Romanov Light, the tanker was recently re-registered in Russia, with its home port listed as Taganrog, and was given a new name – GALILEO.

The tanker VERONICA (IMO 9256860) is an oil tanker built in 2003 at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering shipyard in South Korea.

The vessel is 249 meters long with a deadweight of over 115,000 tons and belongs to the Aframax crude oil tanker class (LR2).