WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump announced this week that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The capture comes after a months-long buildup of military forces surrounding the country.
“As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump announced during a meeting at the White House. “Largest one ever seized, actually. And other things are happening. I assume we’re going to keep the oil.”
The seizure is the most recent push to increase pressure on Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. The United States has charged Maduro with counts of narcoterrorism. For months, the Trump administration has built up the largest military presence in the region in decades.
The United States has additionally launched several deadly strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels. These occurred along the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Recently, Congress has increasingly criticized U.S. actions in the region.
Attorney General Pam Bondi shared a statement on X shortly after Trump’s meeting, explaining that the FBI and other federal agencies executed a seizure warrant for the crude oil tanker. The Pentagon additionally provided aid.
The tanker transports sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran.
Bondi also posted a video showing U.S. service members climbing down ropes from helicopters flying over the vessel.
“For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,” Bondi wrote. “This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely – and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues.”
The Venezuelan government responded in a separate statement. They expressed that the seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”
“Under these circumstances, the true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have finally been revealed…It has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people,” the statement reads.
