The U.K. military provided “enabling support” to the United States in its seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker registered in Russia, British officials said on Wednesday.

The Marinera tanker, originally known as the Bella 1, was intercepted in the joint U.S.-U.K. operation after a two-week pursuit.

The British Armed Forces provided “pre-planned operational support” to the U.S. military, which boarded the Bella 1 while it sailed between the U.K. and the Arctic islands of Greenland and Iceland, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in a statement provided by the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.

“UK Armed Forces provided pre-planned operational support, including basing, to U.S. military assets interdicting the Bella 1 in the UK-Iceland-Greenland gap following a U.S. request for assistance,” the statement said.

The ship was put on the U.S. sanctions list in 2024 after it allegedly smuggled cargo for a Hezbollah-linked company. The U.S. Coast Guard tried boarding the vessel late last month as it traveled toward Venezuela, but the ship fled across the Atlantic Ocean before the U.S. warrant could be issued.

The pursuit started over concerns that the Bella 1 was flying a false flag. Amid the pursuit, the ship registered under a Russian flag and received a temporary permit on Dec. 24. Russia reportedly deployed a submarine and other naval assets to protect the sanctioned oil tanker as it attempted to escape U.S. pursuit.

There is no indication they were damaged by U.S. or U.K. forces.

Moscow accused Washington of breaking the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, saying “no state has the right to use force against ships properly registered in the jurisdictions of other states.”

The U.K. maintained it was in “full compliance with international law” during the mission.

U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey hailed the successful operation, saying the British Armed Forces “showed skill and professionalism” in coordination with the U.S. military.

“This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict, and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine,” Healey said. “The UK will continue to step up our action against shadow fleet activity to protect our national security, our economy, and global stability — making Britain secure at home and strong abroad.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that the Bella 1 crew is “subject to prosecution for any applicable violation of federal law” and “will be brought to the United States for such prosecution, if necessary.”

U.S. forces seized another oil tanker, named the Sophia, in the Caribbean on Wednesday. Both actions represent a dramatic escalation of U.S. efforts to crack down on sanctioned oil tankers operated by Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. These ships are collectively known as the “shadow fleet,” which the U.K. echoed in its announcement.