Washington has deployed special forces to the UK to hunt down the sanctioned vessel after it beat Donald Trump’s Venezuela blockade.
Formerly called the Bella 1 but now rebranded as the Marinera, the tanker is accused of being part of the so-called “shadow fleet”, a group of boats that illegally ship oil.
Now displaying a Russian flag, the ship has resurfaced in the North Atlantic 500 miles west of Ireland on its way to Putin’s regime.
Cargo planes packed with Special Forces helicopters have swooped into RAF Fairford to aid the hunt for the tanker.
Troops from America’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment – known as Nightstalkers – have brought Black Hawk and Chinook choppers to let soldiers fast rope onto the 1100ft vessel.
The Marinera has previously displayed Guyanese and Panamanian flags on different occasions but is originally from Iran.
It managed to slip away from Trump’s forces in the Caribbean last month.
