US Coast Guard short on ships as it chases Venezuela-linked oil tanker

The Coast Guard doesn’t yet have enough ships or elite boarding teams in the region to seize a Venezuela-linked oil tanker it’s been chasing for days — a glaring gap in the Trump administration’s crackdown on sanctioned oil shipments, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The US has been pursuing the tanker, identified as the Bella 1, since Sunday after spotting it off Venezuela’s coast — but it has refused to allow Coast Guard personnel aboard.

Because of the refusal, forceable seizure is the only option, and it would likely fall to one of just two highly trained Maritime Security Response Teams capable of risky helicopter boardings, including rappelling onto vessels — and those teams are not yet in position, according to the report, which cited a US official and a source familiar with the matter.

Otherwise, the US would have to abandon its efforts to take the tanker.

President Trump on Monday pledged that Washington would eventually seize the ship. Earlier this month, he ordered a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers tied to Venezuela as pressure mounts on President Nicolás Maduro.

“The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,” a White House official told The Post in a statement on Tuesday. “It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”

Unlike the Navy, the Coast Guard has the legal authority to board and seize sanctioned vessels.