Donald Trump just sent assets used in Venezuela raid to RAF bases. This is what's happening - Charlie Peters

Online plane-spotters and amateur military strategy plotters have been pulling together the various threads and generating several theories.

Could this be another preparation for a strike in the Middle East, as the US conducted in Iran last year with the daring Operation Midnight Hammer?

Or is the Pentagon plotting further actions elsewhere in the region?

Uncle Sam's true intentions might lie closer to home.

Washington has sent to Britain assets from the bases that host the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the team that conducted yesterday's daring raid in Caracas, carrying Delta Force and Justice personnel into the heart of Nicolas Maduro's seat of power.

Seeing the same units landing in Britain means it's likely that they are preparing to conduct special forces operations soon.

Open source intelligence observers have also detected Osprey tiltrotor vehicles, in their special forces variant, relocating West from Mildenhall to Fairford in Gloucestershire, closer to the sea that they are used to operating above.

So what is the target? Earlier today, some P-8 Poseidon patrol and reconnaissance aircraft departed Mildenhall for the Atlantic, where a Venezuelan tanker has been transiting.

These planes have high-tech radar and tracking devices.

American forces have been tracking a Venezuelan tanker, known as the Bella 1, for over two weeks.

The ship had started its journey in Iran last year and was approaching Venezuela in late December when it reached the American Caribbean blockade.

The tanker has come under American sanctions since 2024 because of its alleged ties to Iran and Hezbollah, which it is said to support with Venezuelan oil, now under US control.

The US Coast Guard tried to board but the crew refused to comply and sailed back toward the Atlantic, where it is approaching the United Kingdom.

It is now seeking Russian protection. The crew painted a Russian flag on the side and told the Coast Guard that they were sailing under Moscow's command.

And with a new paint job also came a new name: Bella 1 suddenly appeared in Russia’s ship registry as the Marinera.

It's home port is now Sochi, on the Black Sea, once the home of the Winter Olympics and a vital source of Russian naval power.

On New Year's Eve, Moscow made a formal diplomatic request to the US to stop its pursuit of the oil tanker. But a lot has changed since the start of the New Year.

Russia's ally in South America is now suddenly an American colony

And in his Mar-a-Lago press conference yesterday, President Trump made clear that any Venezuelan officials who do not play ball would face more of the same consequences currently endured by Maduro in his Brooklyn jail cell.

To sustain their strategy and maintain pressure on any lingering sentiment of resistance among the Venezuelan regime's resistance, another daring special forces raid to demonstrate the might of America could help dampen those pondering a moment of anti-imperial heroism.

So far, the United States has boarded and taken possession of two other tankers in the Caribbean since its blockade came into force. Both of those vessels were headed towards Asia.

After the first was seized, the Venezuelans accused Washington of “blatant theft”, lamenting what they called “an act of international piracy”.

But Trump has shown that he cares more for might and the strategic interests of the US rather than the niceties of international law, which few of his major critics respect in the slightest anyway.

Taking two vessels under the nose of Maduro was easy. Now that he is out of the picture, Washington might take a third, this time right next to British waters.