U.S. Military Reportedly Calls Elite Force To Board Tanker Defying Seizure Attempts

The U.S. is beefing up its military presence in the Caribbean further to board the Bella 1, a tanker linked to Venezuela and Iran as part of its blockade of sanctioned vessels heading in and out of the South American country.

The Wall Street Journal noted that among the units being summoned is a Maritime Special Response Team, an elite force trained to board hostile ships.

The outlet added that the hunt for the tanker could be the most dangerous moment for the blockade, which seeks to exert economic pressure on the Maduro regime to force it out of power.

This is the first of three tankers targeted by the U.S. that has resisted being seized. It isn't publicly known why the ship has taken the stance, with the WSJ noting that most commercial vessels have little incentive to disobey the orders of U.S. armed forces.

"They are probably getting orders from somewhere," retired Rear Adm. William Baumgartner told the outlet. "These are owned by very bad people trying to make money in a particular manner."

The strategy plays a large role in the Trump administration's goal of forcing Maduro out. Another report detailed that the White House ordered military forces to focus on enforcing a "quarantine" of tankers.

An official told Reuters that while "military options still exist, the focus is to first use economic pressure by enforcing sanctions to reach the outcome the White House is looking."

"The efforts so far have put tremendous pressure on (authoritarian President Nicolas) Maduro, and the belief is that by late January, Venezuela will be facing an economic calamity unless it agrees to make significant concessions to the U.S.," the official added.

In fact, analysts consulted by The Atlantic said the decision could exert significant pressure on Maduro by targeting the regime's main source of revenue, potentially forcing significant concessions while stopping short of guaranteeing regime change.

Juan Gonzalez, a former National Security Council adviser on Latin America under President Joe Biden, said the move strikes at "the single biggest source of revenue that has propped up Maduro's government since 2013." "If the goal is to force concessions, he said, "this is a really smart move."