U.S. seizes third oil tanker in Indian Ocean - UPI.com

Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. military seized a third oil tanker moving from the Caribbean Sea to the Indian Ocean, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The Bertha, a ship flying the Cook Islands flag, was intercepted overnight in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command region after the Defense Department said it attempted to evade U.S. forces.

"International waters are not a refuge for sanctioned actors. By land, air, or sea, our forces will find you and deliver justice," the Department of Defense said in a post on X. "The Department of War will deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain."

The department alleges that the ship was "operating in defiance of President [Donald] Trump's established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean."

pic.twitter.com/oGPZyAk9cg— Department of War (@DeptofWar) February 24, 2026