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21-12-2025
WASHINGTON: The United States is interdicting and seizing a vessel off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, three US officials told media on Saturday, a move which comes just days after US President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
The officials, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say where the operation was taking place but added the Coast Guard was in the lead.
The Coast Guard and Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This would mark the second time in recent weeks that the Coast Guard, along with other agencies, seized a sanctioned tanker.
“I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” Trump said on Tuesday.
In the days since US forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, there has been an effective embargo in place, with loaded vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil staying in Venezuelan waters rather than risk seizure.
Last week, the US has seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, a move that sent oil prices higher and sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas.
“We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening,” said Trump, who has been pressuring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down.
Asked what would happen with the oil, Trump said: “We keep it, I guess.”
In response, the Venezuelan government in a statement accused the US of “blatant theft” and described the seizure as “an act of international piracy”. It said it would denounce the incident before international bodies.
Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of US military intervention in Venezuela. The seizure is the first of a Venezuelan oil cargo amid US sanctions that have been in force since 2019. It is also the Trump administration’s first known action against a Venezuela-related tanker since he ordered a massive military buildup in the region.
The US has already carried out several strikes against suspected drug vessels, which has raised concerns among lawmakers and legal experts.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social media that the FBI, Homeland Security and Coast Guard, along with support from the US military, carried out a seizure warrant for a crude tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
A 45-second video posted by Bondi showed two helicopters approaching a vessel and armed individuals in camouflage rappelling onto it.
Iran’s embassy in Caracas condemned the action as a “grave violation of international laws and norms” in a post on social media on Thursday.
Trump administration officials did not name the vessel or disclose its location at the time of the seizure. British maritime risk management group Vanguard said the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Skipper was believed to have been seized off Venezuela early on Wednesday. The US has imposed sanctions on the tanker for what it says was involvement in Iranian oil trading when the vessel was called the Adisa.
The Skipper left Venezuela’s main oil port of Jose between December 4 and 5 after loading some 1.8 million barrels of Venezuela’s Merey heavy crude. It transferred about 200,000 barrels near Curacao to the Panama-flagged Neptune 6 bound for Cuba before the seizure, according to satellite information analyzed by TankerTrackers.com and internal data from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. (Int’l News Desk)
