The United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said, escalating US pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
“As you probably know we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump said. “Large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the tanker has been sanctioned by the US for multiple years “due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,” including Venezuela and Iran.
Bondi posted a video on X showing armed personnel rappelling on to the ship from a helicopter, then moving on deck with guns drawn. She said the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the US Coast Guard, conducted the seizure “with support from the Department of War.”
The seizure came as Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado touched down in Oslo, after she defied a travel ban and fled the country.
President Trump did not offer any detailed explanation for the move, saying only that the vessel was seized “for very good reason.” Asked what would happen to the oil the tanker was transporting, Trump said, “We keep it, I guess.”
The seizure occurred in international waters, a senior US official said, and proceeded without incident or casualties either among the US personnel or the tanker’s crew.
The ship, which was headed to Cuba, was ultimately destined for Asia after being brokered through Cuban sellers, the senior official said, adding that additional seizures are possible in the coming weeks as the US applies pressure on Maduro.
The vessel, named the Skipper, was carrying Venezuelan crude, the official said.
The Skipper, previously named the Adisa, was sanctioned by the US in 2022 for facilitating oil trades for Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.
In response to questions from CNN, Trump said he had not spoken to Maduro recently and declined to say who owns the seized tanker.
The Venezuelan government said it “strongly denounces” the seizure and described the move as an “act of international piracy” in a statement Wednesday.
“In these circumstances, the true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have finally been revealed,” the statement said. “It is not migration. It is not drug trafficking. It is not democracy. It is not human rights. It has always been about our natural wealth, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people.”
Venezuela said it would appeal the seizure to “all existing international bodies.”
The US is now months into its pressure campaign on Venezuela that has included moving thousands of troops and a carrier strike group into the Caribbean, strikes on suspected drug boats and repeated threats against Maduro. So far, the US military has killed 87 people in strikes that have destroyed 23 alleged drug boats, and Trump has repeatedly suggested action on land could come soon.