U.S. Coast Guard Chases Empty Tanker Like It Owes Them Rent

KEY POINTS

•The U.S. Coast Guard pursued the empty Bella 1 tanker Sunday, sanctioned in 2024 for allegedly funding Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
•Two other tankers carrying about 1.8 million barrels each were interdicted earlier; Skipper seized on Dec. 10 and Centuries boarded Saturday without a court order.
•Panama authorized the boardings under a 2002 agreement, with its president notably gifting a dress to an anti-Maduro activist during her Nobel ceremony.

In the latest Trump-verse episode of "How to Squeeze an Entire Economy," the U.S. Coast Guard is chasing the Panamanian-flagged Bella 1, a tanker sanctioned for allegedly fueling Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but ironically carrying zero oil when caught — apparently just window shopping for Venezuelan fuel. Meanwhile, two other tankers, Skipper and Centuries, joined the cast; Skipper legally seized on Dec. 10 with 1.9 million barrels worth $95 million, perfect for a Black Friday deal, while Centuries was boarded without a court order Saturday, sailing on the edge of Venezuela's perpetual sanction limbo. Panama gave the thumbs-up thanks to President José Raúl Mulino, who also handed a dress to Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado in Oslo — because nothing screams anti-Maduro alliance like couture diplomacy. As if a high-stakes telenovela wasn’t enough, the whole saga doubles as a geopolitical chess move hitting Cuba and Iran’s "ghost armada" tech collab, featuring drone warfare and oil-diluting diluents that sound like an 80s glam band remix. Venezuelan VP Delcy Rodriguez calls the U.S. seizure a "neo-colonial" oilkidnapping that’s straight out of Mission Impossible except less Tom Cruise and more sanctions paperwork.