UK helped US seize Russian-flagged tanker, defence ministry says

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said it had provided military help to the US forces that seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker north-west of Britain and Ireland, arguing the operation was legitimate because the vessel had breached sanctions on Iran.John Healey, the defence secretary, said the UK had allowed US aircraft to use bases to prepare for and carry out the mission, while the RAF had provided extra surveillance and the navy refuelling while the final capture was under way.Healey said British involvement was justified under international law because the Marinera, which was sailing from the Caribbean Sea towards Russia, had previously been placed under sanctions when it was known as the Bella 1.“This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict, and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine,” the defence secretary said.mapThe Bella 1 was sailing towards Venezuela at the end of December, but rapidly reversed course after it was approached by the US Coast Guard. The tanker was hastily renamed as the Marinera and placed under a Russian flag in an effort to deter its seizure, but this did not put off the US.Bella 1 had been under sanctions by the US Treasury since July 2024, accused by the American authorities of being involved in carrying illicit cargo for a company owned by Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group. It is not thought to be carrying oil, prompting speculation as to whether it could be carrying nefarious cargo.Russian state media footage purports to show a US helicopter approaching the Marinera on Wednesday. Photograph: XThe Ministry of Defence said that intelligence assessments had linked the tanker to international terrorism and crime, including Hezbollah. It was “part of the web of rising shadow activity that fuels and finances nefarious activity across the globe”, the MoD added.Flight records showed the Marinera appears to have been closely monitored this week by US P-8 surveillance aircraft flying from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk as it crossed the Atlantic a few hundred miles west of Ireland. The surveillance was part of what appeared to be an intense US effort to seize the tanker.A series of US C-17 transport flights into RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in the past 36 hours had prompted speculation they were carrying helicopters that could be used by US special forces to take the ship. Two AC-130 gunships were also filmed arriving at Mildenhall on Sunday.Data collected by TankerTrackers, a specialist monitor, showed Bella 1 had transported 7.3m barrels of Iranian crude oil and 3.7m barrels of Venezuelan crude oil to China between October 2021 and September 2025.