Trump's administration intends to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following its ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

Officials said Wednesday that the U.S. military has seized two oil tankers linked to Venezuela in successive actions in the Caribbean and North Atlantic.

The US has seized a “rogue” Russian oil tanker with links to Venezuela which had been travelling off British waters in the North Atlantic. US forces boarded the MV Marinera, a Russian-flagged vessel previously known as MV Bella 1,

The pre-dawn action was carried out by Marines and Navy sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, part of the extensive force the U.S. has built up in the Caribbean in recent months.

After a weekslong chase across the Atlantic, the U.S. took over the Bella 1 in an operation that defied Russian warnings.

The US has seized two vessels in close succession - one in the North Atlantic and another in the Caribbean - with one Russian politician calling it "outright piracy".

The US is tracking an oil tanker linked to Venezuela, Russia and Iran off the coast of Britain, as Washington builds up military assets in the UK. The Marinera oil tanker, which the US Coast Guard attempted to seize near Venezuela in December, is now in the mid-Atlantic and appears to be sailing to Russia.

The clandestine ship-to-ship transfer, visible via satellite and other shipping data, is a maneuver typical of the shadow fleet, an armada of aging tankers that crisscross the world, smuggling illicit oil for sanctioned nations including Venezuela, Russia and Iran.

Russia has deployed naval assets to the Atlantic to protect an oil tanker that is being actively pursued by US forces.

Two tankers carrying Russian Urals crude, both of which had signaled India’s Sikka port as their destination last week, have updated their details, according to data compiled by analytics firm Kpler,

The future of Venezuela remains uncertain as the Trump administration asserts US oversight over the country for the foreseeable future. Follow for live updates