US intercepts tanker in Indian Ocean after it evaded Venezuela blockade

Thomas Copeland and Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify

Elsewhere the team has been tracking the build-up of US military assets in the Middle East, where the world’s warship, USS Gerald R Ford, appears to be headed.

The aircraft carrier, which docked at a US naval base in Souda Bay in Crete on Monday, has been continually deployed for the past eight months. A deployment of six to nine months is normal, says naval analyst Mike Plunkett at defense think-tank Janes, but “what is unusual is that it has been extended twice and crossed the Atlantic three times”.

“The carrier was originally deployed to the Mediterranean before being sent to the Caribbean to support operations off Venezuela, and now back to the Mediterranean again to cover off any potential operations against Iran,” Plunkett told us.

The warship left Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia on 24 June last year, a total of 244 days ago, and its recent deployment to the Middle East means it could be gone for more than 300 days before it returns home, Plunkett said.

There have been reports of issues arising with the ship’s plumbing system recently. Plunkett said among the issues that do arise during a long deployment is crew morale, however. “The crew will be suffering stress and fatigue,” Plunkett said.