Trump administration says it seized oil tanker off Venezuela coast

The United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, where President Donald Trump has been threatening military action for the last several months.

Members of the Trump administration confirmed reports that the US Coast Guard led an operation to commandeer the vessel on Wednesday afternoon.

But few details have been released about the circumstances of the seizure.

“We’ve just seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela — large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually,” Trump said during an event at the White House. “And other things are happening. So you’ll be seeing that later, and you’ll be talking about that later with some other people.”

When faced with questions about the tanker at a roundtable with business leaders, Trump encouraged reporters to “follow the tanker” to find out more.

He also declined to identify the vessel’s owner. But, he added, “I assume we’re going to keep the oil.”

Shortly afterwards, Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social media that the tanker had been seized for transporting “sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran”.

“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,” she wrote.

Her post was accompanied by a video that showed US soldiers rappelling onto the tanker from military helicopters. Bondi explained that the Department of Defense, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security cooperated with the Coast Guard on the operation.

The takeover of the oil tanker is likely to inflame tensions with Venezuela, as Trump continues with his campaign of “maximum pressure” against the South American country.

Already, the Venezuelan government has issued a statement, denouncing the Trump administration’s actions as “criminal”.

“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces and strongly repudiates what constitutes a blatant theft and act of international piracy,” the statement said.

It accused the US of seeking to overthrow Venezuela’s leadership through “unprecedented aggression”, including the “plunder” of its natural resources.

Escalating tensions

Since returning to office for a second term, Trump has ramped up his threats against Venezuela and deployed considerable military forces to the Caribbean region.

That includes sending the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, and its strike group to the southern Caribbean Sea.

Under Trump, the US has also carried out a campaign of lethal strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, with the Trump administration identifying Venezuela as the origin point for some of the vessels.

At least 22 boats have been attacked, and an estimated 87 people have been killed. Trump has repeatedly threatened to continue the bombing campaign on land as well.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said that the US is seeking to topple his government.

He responded to Trump’s troop movements with his own military buildup along Venezuela’s coast and indicated his country’s armed forces would resist any potential military attack from the US.

Oil exports are a key source of revenue for the South American country, which exported more than 900,000 barrels per day last month. Oil futures rose following the seizure.

Al Jazeera correspondent Mike Hanna noted that information about the tanker seizure remains scarce.

“There aren’t many details about the seizure of this tanker, apart from the president’s confirmation,” said Hanna.

But, he added, the seizure is likely to escalate an already volatile situation in the Caribbean.

“This does mark a massive escalation in terms of US action against Venezuela. It has been reported that President Trump has been pondering for weeks now what kind of action to take in Venezuela and has been very clear that he is contemplating regime change,” he said.

Punishment for violating sanctions?

The US has taken action to seize high-value materials linked to Venezuela in the past. In February 2024, under then-President Joe Biden, the US seized a cargo plane Iran allegedly sold to Venezuela, claiming it violated sanctions on Tehran.

Then, a year later, the Trump administration seized a Dassault Falcon 2000EX jet linked to a state-run oil company in Venezuela, also claiming sanctions violations, this time against restrictions on the South American country.

The Maduro government denounced that confiscation as “brazen theft”.

Trump also recently declared Venezuelan airspace closed to travel, prompting foreign airlines to pause their flights to the country.

Trump’s rivalry with Maduro stretches back to the Republican leader’s first term in office, when he first imposed a campaign of “maximum pressure” on Venezuela, including a multi-million-dollar reward for Maduro’s arrest.

The latest spike in tensions, however, has been met with domestic and international condemnation.

Just this month, two United Nations experts issued a joint statement expressing “deep concern about mounting pressure from the United States on Venezuela”.

Polls in the US also show disapproval over the escalating tensions. A November poll from The Economist and YouGov found that only 17 percent of US adults support using military force to overthrow the Venezuelan government, with 45 percent opposed.

And on Wednesday, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday found that 48 percent of respondents expressed opposition to the administration’s targeting of alleged drug vessels, widely considered illegal under international law.

About 45 percent, meanwhile, said that they generally supported using force near Venezuela to stem the flow of drugs, with 36 percent expressing opposition.

While Trump indicated earlier this month he had recently been in contact with Maduro, he told reporters on Wednesday that he has not spoken to the Venezuelan leader since the tanker’s seizure.