It's Monday. Welcome to the BDB Afternoon

Afternoon

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed.

First up, a sanctioned oil tanker is tracked from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean and boarded by U.S. troops, while protests erupt in Venezuela.

I'll have the details.

Later in the show, American forces hit more than 30 ISIS targets in Syria as part of ongoing

efforts to prevent the group's resurgence.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

In what's becoming a bit of a familiar tale, U.S. military forces have boarded another

sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it all the way from the Caribbean.

The vessel was identified as the Veronica 3, and it departed Venezuela on the 3rd of January, carrying crude oil and fuel products.

U.S. officials say the ship attempted to evade a quarantine order tied to sanctions enforcement imposed in late 2025. A video of the action posted

by the Department of War, formerly known as the Department of Defense, shows the operation unfolding

from multiple angles. In the footage, U.S. troops have seen departing a U.S. vessel by helicopter,

the visuals then cut to personnel aboard the Veronica 3, securing the ship.

The Pentagon described the action as a right-of-visit maritime interdiction.

U.S. forces boarded the vessel without incident.

Officials say the ship had been operating in violation of U.S. sanctions connected to Venezuela's energy sector.

According to maritime tracking analysts, the Veronica 3 has been linked

to transporting sanctioned Venezuelan, Iranian, and Russian oil since 2003. The ship reportedly

altered its tracking data and used evasive routes while at sea. This boarding follows a similar

operation that we reported on last week, involving another

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