Navy SEALs Seize Tanker Seeking to Ship Illicit Libya Oil

U.S. Navy SEALs boarded a tanker carrying oil from a port controlled by rebels in eastern Libya, thwarting the group’s first attempt to sell crude independently of the central government.

Navy SEAL commandos seized the tanker southeast of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus at 10 p.m. Washington time yesterday, or early this morning local time, the U.S. Defense Department said in an e-mailed statement. The Morning Glory, which left the rebel-held Libyan port of Es Sider on March 11 after loading crude, will be re-routed “soon,” with U.S. sailors on board, to a port under the Libyan government’s control, the Defense Department said.