The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted an oil tanker in international waters of the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela early Saturday, according to U.S. officials.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the operation in a social media post, saying the Coast Guard apprehended the vessel with support from the Department of Defense during a pre-dawn action. She said the tanker had most recently docked at a Venezuelan port.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco-terrorism in the region,” Noem wrote. “We will find you, and we will stop you.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also addressed the seizure, citing President Donald Trump’s warning that the United States would impose a blockade on oil tankers transporting sanctioned Venezuelan crude. The move has intensified U.S. pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
“President Trump has been clear: the blockade of sanctioned oil tankers departing from, or bound for, Venezuela will remain in full force until Maduro’s criminal enterprise returns every stolen American asset,” Hegseth said in a social media post.
Saturday’s interdiction marks the second oil tanker seized by the United States in the Caribbean in recent weeks. Unlike an earlier operation this month, however, the tanker involved was not listed on any sanctions registry maintained by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, or the United Nations, according to Kpler, a firm that tracks global shipping and logistics networks.
In the Dec. 10 operation, an elite U.S. Coast Guard tactical team, supported by U.S. Navy helicopters, boarded and seized The Skipper, a tanker that had been sanctioned for its role in an illicit Venezuelan oil operation.
Reuters first reported that a second vessel was being seized by the Coast Guard.
Trump announced what he described as a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela in a lengthy social media post on Dec. 16.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,” Trump wrote. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
