Trump scrambles sub-hunter to face off with Putin warships in WW3 showdown | World | News
The US has reported deploying submarine-hunting aircraft to track Russian warships in the North Atlantic as tensions between the two nuclear-armed states have exploded. Putin sent the warships to escort a rogue Russian-flagged oil tanker that the US had reportedly planned on seizing.
The oil tanker which evades President Donald Trump’s naval blockade on sanctioned Venezuelan shipments is now at the centre of an escalating standoff, with US special forces and British military aircraft tracking it as it makes for Russian waters. The vessel, renamed Marinera after evading a US boarding attempt, has drawn a direct response from Moscow, which has dispatched a submarine and other naval assets to escort the ship amid the high-stakes pursuit, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.
The showdown comes just a day after Two US officials told CBS News yesterday, January 6 that American forces were planning to board the ship, and that Washington preferred to seize it rather than sink it. The US military’s Southern Command posted on social media yesterday it “remains ready to support our US government agency partners in standing against sanctioned vessels and actors transiting through this region.
“Our sea services are vigilant, agile, and postured to track vessels of interest. When the call comes, we will be there.”
Although the ship is currently empty, it has a record of transporting Venezuelan crude and was believed to be somewhere between Scotland and Iceland as of Tuesday.
A P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane is heading toward the tanker’s last reported location, having departed Keflavik, Iceland earlier today with a KC-135 Stratotanker in support for refuelling.
The tanker has been under scrutiny since last month, when the U.S. Coast Guard tried to board it in the Caribbean over alleged sanctions violations and Iranian oil shipments. Formerly Bella 1, the vessel changed course, rebranded as Marinera, and reportedly reflagged to Russia.
Washington believed it may have been shipping Iranian oil at the time. As it moves toward Europe, around 10 U.S. transport aircraft and helicopters are tracking it.
