U.S. Pursues Third Oil Tanker Near Venezuela
We “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.”
The United States is now pursuing a third oil tanker linked to Venezuela, escalating a maritime enforcement campaign that intensified just one day after U.S. forces seized another vessel operating in the Caribbean.
As I reported yesterday, American authorities boarded and seized a tanker earlier this month as part of a broader crackdown on sanctioned oil shipments tied to the Maduro regime. That operation now appears to be only the beginning.
According to USA Today, U.S. officials confirmed Sunday that American forces are actively tracking another tanker near Venezuela. The vessel has not yet been boarded, and officials declined to name it or disclose its precise location.
“This is an active pursuit,” a U.S. official told Reuters, describing the operation as ongoing.
If intercepted, it would mark the third U.S. interdiction involving Venezuelan oil tankers in less than two weeks, signaling a sharp escalation in enforcement activity at sea.
The pursuit comes days after Donald Trump ordered what he described as a total blockade of sanctioned oil shipments connected to Venezuela, accusing the regime of financing criminal activity and narcoterrorism through oil sales.
“I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” Trump wrote in a Dec. 16 Truth Social post.
On Saturday, U.S. forces also boarded the Centuries, a Panama-flagged tanker that had recently loaded Venezuelan crude. While the ship itself was not publicly listed on Treasury Department sanctions rolls, U.S. officials said it was suspected of operating as part of Venezuela’s shadow fleet, according to Reuters and The New York Times.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration would continue targeting illicit oil movements tied to the regime.
“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.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has condemned the seizures as piracy and accused the United States of attempting to strangle Venezuela’s economy. Caracas has vowed to raise the matter before international bodies and has ordered naval escorts for some oil shipments.
Bloomberg reported that Venezuela’s oil storage facilities are nearing capacity, raising the prospect that production could soon be forced offline if tankers refuse to approach Venezuelan ports.
With U.S. naval assets expanding across the Caribbean and multiple vessels now under pursuit or seizure, the standoff between Washington and Caracas appears to be entering a far more volatile phase, one defined increasingly by action at sea rather than diplomatic pressure alone.
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Comments
‘and accused the United States of attempting to strangle Venezuela’s economy.’
I mean… yeah, that’s the explicit point of doing it. You are under sanctions designed to ‘strangle Venezuela’s economy’.
Trump is just actually ENFORCING it, now.
Indeed. The USA is the regional hegemonic power and under Trump 2.0 we’ve returned some of the focus of the US Gov’t back to our hemisphere instead of far abroad. For smaller Nations with larger, more powerful neighbors it is probably not much fun to get told or eventually forced to get ‘back in line’ with the goals/preferences of their more powerful neighbors.
Rather nice of the Venezuelans to finance their own sanctions.
Deployment of out military is costing far more than the value of the tankers and the oil. We will have to bill them for the rest. Since they owe us for all the oil extracted since they nationalized, we will have to look at other assets.
That doesn’t have to be bad for citizens of Venezuela.
But It WILL be bad for Venezuelans, as long as Maduro is in power. He’ll see to that so he can show the rest of the world how his people are suffering because of the sanctions.
Then watch the dems hop all over what a racist Trump and the republicans are and how they’re ‘starving’ all the brown folk and thousands of children are dying.
Then they’ll release heavily redacted photos of the atrocities that were actually taken in Africa, somewhere.
Of course, I’m guessing but…it stands to reason.
Anyone know if Democrats have come out in full support of Venezuela yet? Asking for a friend.
Sen Chris Van Hollen is checking to see if he has any “constituents” in Venezuela in need of a visit.
Firing up the margarita mobile
The vessels in questions are using spoof automatic identification systems in violation of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). This is against international law so Trump is “arresting” the ships and will let the crews go unless they have international warrants out for their arrest. No one including the UN wants to do anything about it so Trump is. We can use the seized oil to refill our strategic reserve.
Any insight to claims this is as much about cutting off the CIAs cash from these ops as it is taking cash away from Narco terror.
CIA has been a bad enough apple in recent years that I’m inclined to believe they are at the center of a lot of the transactions. I’d go so far as they are actively using these for funding anti Trump activities.
I have no proof but when 364 days in a row in the letter Y, I’m inclined to believe the 365th day will also end in Y absent of information telling me otherwise.