The US Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a vessel in international waters near Venezuela as tensions in the region continue to escalate.
US authorities have already seized two oil tankers this month - one of them on Saturday.
Sunday's pursuit relates to a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela's illegal sanctions evasion, a US official told CBS News. It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.
The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of using oil money to fund drug-related crime, while Venezuela has described the tanker seizures as piracy.
According to the New York Times, late on Saturday the US Coast Guard approached an oil tanker, which US officials said was not flying a valid national flag.
British maritime risk management group Vanguard identified the tanker as Bella 1, a very large crude oil carrier which reportedly was on its way to Venezuela to pick up oil.
The US added Bella 1 to its sanctions list last year for allegedly carrying sanctioned cargo.
When it added Bella 1 to its sanctions list, the US Treasury Department accused its registered owner of links to Iran and of providing support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The tanker did not submit to being boarded and fled northeast into the Atlantic Ocean with the US Coast Guard in pursuit.
Bella 1 is the third oil tanker to be targeted by the US in waters off Venezuela.
On 10 December, the Coast Guard seized the Skipper, which US Attorney General Pam Bondi said was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran.
The Skipper has since been escort to Galveston in Texas, where it arrived on Sunday.
On Saturday, Coast Guard personnel boarded a tanker named Centuries, which reportedly carried oil from Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that Centuries was operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil and fund the narcoterrorist Maduro regime.
The seizure of the tankers is the latest development in the US's pressure campaign against the government of Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.
Since Trump took office in January, the US has doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro's capture, declared his government a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, and recently ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving the country.
This move has caused outrage among Venezuelan officials, who see it as an attack on their economy.
President Maduro denounced the tanker's seizure and pursuit, labeling US actions as piracy, and accused the US of attempting to seize Venezuela's oil wealth, as the country holds the world's largest proven oil reserves.
At Venezuela's request, the United Nations Security Council is set to hold an emergency session to discuss what Caracas describes as ongoing US aggression.
China has sided with Venezuela, denouncing the US's unilateral sanctions, emphasizing that Venezuela has the right to develop independently and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation with other nations.
