The Great Escape? U.S. Reportedly Weighing High-Seas Seizure of Fugitive Tanker

This isn’t just another sanctions-dodging tanker. Bella 1 was formally blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury in June 2024 for its role in moving oil on behalf of networks tied to Hezbollah and Iran’s IRGC-Qods Force. Its registered owner was sanctioned under Executive Order 13224 — the U.S. government’s primary counter-terrorism authority. TankerTrackers.com estimates the VLCC carried more than 20 million barrels of Iranian and Venezuelan crude between 2021 and 2025, much of it bound for China through a web of ship-to-ship transfers. United Against Nuclear Iran has long labeled the ship part of its “Ghost Armada.”