Seized Shadow Fleet Tanker Gets Under Way in U.S. Coast Guard Custody

The stateless, sanctioned vessel was captured on Wednesday by a U.S. Coast Guard boarding team in a rare execution of an arrest warrant in international waters. A federal court authorized the capture of the Skipper for alleged violations of sanctions on Iran's energy industry, confirmed by multiple independent tracking groups. Activist group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) cheered the move.

"Skipper and tankers like it help bankroll both the brutal regimes in Iran and Venezuela through transport of illicit and U.S.-sanctioned oil. We have long called for American interdictions of ships transporting blacklisted oil in defiance of U.S. sanctions, noting in 2023 that ‘interdictions should take place if the world has any chance of squeezing the Islamic Republic and its terror-financing oil wealth,'" said UANI Chairman Governor Jeb Bush and UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace in a joint statement.