Read More Members of the United States military boarded a ship and seized “sensitive technology” reportedly bound for Venezuela, officials said on Saturday in a fresh attempt to ratchet up pressure on the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
It was the second time this month that the US has interdicted a vessel near Venezuela, and it follows President Donald Trump’s announcement earlier this week of a “blockade” against Venezuelan ships carrying over 400,000 barrels of oil to and from the U.S. The United States impounded the Skipper, a big oil tanker that had been under sanctions over its links to Iran, on Dec. 10.
While Trump’s order this week focused in part on sanctioned tankers, the vessel seized by the US Saturday is not itself under American sanctions, according to the official. The tanker’s crew did not challenge the seizure.
The vessel was a Panamanian-flagged tanker transporting Venezuelan oil, the official said, and had been on its way to Asia.
US SEIZES Venezuelan tanker… that wasn’t even sanctioned — Axios
Trump’s BLOCKADE targets sanctioned tankers only
Ship was loaded with MILLIONS of barrels bound for CHINA — Reuters https://t.co/I3S6D6fWPK pic.twitter.com/0Ti0lNa2TK
— RT (@RT_com) December 20, 2025
The operation on Saturday was led by the US Coast Guard, with support from the US military and took place in international waters, the official added.
The Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, whose department includes the Coast Guard, posted a seven-minute video to social media Saturday afternoon of a helicopter flying over the tanker. The tanker was seized in “predawn action” after being boarded by the Coast Guard with assistance from the Defense Department and had last been docked in Venezuela, she wrote.
“The United States will continue to target the sanction-evasion tactics employed by the illegitimate regime, and we encourage all nations and companies around the world to repudiate this. ‘Venezuela grain on freighters headed for Iran’: US targets infamous sanctions evaders with fresh oil-shipment sanction “The Trump Administration remains committed to targeting any person or entity seeking to provide support to help Maduro maintain his hold on power.”
Venezuela’s foreign minister, for his part, said Saturday that Iran had extended its cooperation to battle what he labeled “acts of piracy” and “international terrorism” by the US.
In a message on Telegram, the foreign minister Yvan Gil said he had spoken by telephone with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, to discuss “relations between the two parties” and “recent developments in the Caribbean which threaten peace,” as well as “the theft of ships loaded with Venezuelan oil.”
Gil said Tehran had declared a “complete will” to support Venezuela as well as cooperation “in every field” against US action, which he said contravenes international law.
In concert with Trump’s warnings of land strikes on Venezuelan territory, the seizures of ships ramped up pressure on Caracas by hitting at its economic jugular but which was already being strangled under new sanctions against its oil sector earlier this year.
The United States is now months into its pressure campaign on Venezuela, which has also involved sending thousands of troops and a carrier strike group to the waters near the Caribbean, taking action against suspected drug boats and repeating threats against Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
The United States military has killed 104 people in strikes that have sunk 29 suspected drug boats, attacks that the Trump administration has sold as an operation to disrupt illicit flows of drugs and migrants from Venezuela. But its moves have also indicated a broader pressure campaign focused on Maduro — whose ouster White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has said is the administration’s actual goal.
Trump’s threat this week of a “blockade” also underscored the president’s focus on the country’s oil, which he has contended the US should have access to if Maduro is no longer at the helm. The state company, Petróleos de Venezuela, controls the country’s oil sector. Chevron is the last American company drilling in Venezuela and donates some of its production to PDVSA under a sanctions carve-out.
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but its industry operates well below capacity under international sanctions. The nation sends most of its oil to China.
Venezuela criticized the blockade earlier this week as “a reckless and grave threat.” It said that it would continue to defend its sovereignty and national interests.
A private ship brought into its service recently, to carry Venezuelan oil “denounces the piracy and kidnapping of a new oil tanker carrying Venezuelan oil, on behalf of thousands of Venezuelans and workers committed in our three decades.” they will do anything, everything to make sure that they prosecute these cases and bring them before the United Nation Security council, other agencies multilateral organisations countries in this world.
