THE United States has seized two oil tankers linked to Venezuela in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea, officials said today.

US European Command announced the seizure of the merchant vessel Bella 1 in a social media post.

US forces had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade Washington’s blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela.

It was seized between Iceland and the Britain with a Russian submarine and other military vessels nearby, but they took no action.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the vessel had been “sailing in international waters of the North Atlantic under the [Russian] state flag and in full compliance with the norms of international maritime law.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem later revealed that US forces had also taken control of the tanker Sophia in the Caribbean.

She wrote on social media that both were “either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it” and that they were part of a large “ghost fleet” of ships that carry oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela in defiance of Western sanctions.

The Energy Department said that the US is “selectively” removing sanctions to allow the sale of Venezuelan oil to markets worldwide.