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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