The United States apprehended an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela early Saturday, marking another step in Washington’s escalating pressure campaign against the Maduro regime, US officials said, according to the AFP news agency.
It was the second time in two weeks that American forces have intercepted a tanker in the strategically vital Caribbean region. The operation follows President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of a blockade on “sanctioned oil vessels” traveling to and from Venezuela.
“In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated on X.
Her post included an eight-minute aerial video showing a helicopter hovering above the deck of a large vessel at sea. “The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you,” Noem said.
According to The New York Times, citing an unnamed US official and two sources within Venezuela’s oil industry, the tanker flew a Panamanian flag and was carrying Venezuelan crude when it was intercepted in Caribbean waters.
The Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Earlier this month, on December 10, US forces seized a separate tanker accused of transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran. American authorities have for months been increasing their military presence in the Caribbean, officially to combat drug trafficking but with a clear focus on Venezuela.
Since September, the US military has conducted a series of air strikes on what it described as drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.