The U.S. Coast Guard interdicted a sanctioned vessel off the coast of Venezuela in worldwide waters of the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, based on U.S. officers.
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the seizure in a publish on social media, saying there was Division of Protection help for the pre-dawn motion that was carried out by the Coast Guard. She mentioned the tanker had final made port in Venezuela.
“The USA will proceed to pursue the illicit motion of sanctioned oil that’s used to fund narco terrorism within the area,” Noem mentioned within the publish. “We are going to discover you, and we are going to cease you.”
In a display seize from a video launched by Secretary Kristi Noem, the US Coast Guard apprehends an oil tanker that was final docked in Venezuela, on Dec. 20, 2025.
@Sec_Noem
That is the second sanctioned vessel seized by the US. On Dec. 10, an elite U.S. Coast Guard tactical operations crew, with the help of U.S. Navy helicopters, boarded and seized The Skipper, an oil tanker sanctioned for being a part of a bootleg oil operation involving Venezuela.
Reuters was first to report {that a} second sanctioned vessel was being seized by the Coast Guard.
In a display seize from a video launched by Secretary Kristi Noem, the US Coast Guard apprehends an oil tanker that was final docked in Venezuela, on Dec. 20, 2025.
@Sec_Noem
President Donald Trump threatened this week to impose a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers coming out and in of Venezuela, ratcheting up American stress on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
“Venezuela is totally surrounded by the most important Armada ever assembled within the Historical past of South America,” Trump wrote in a prolonged publish on his social media platform. “It should solely get larger, and the shock to them might be like nothing they’ve ever seen earlier than.”
Maduro mentioned Venezuela would proceed to commerce oil and that Trump’s “intention” is regime change. “This can simply not occur, by no means, by no means, by no means — Venezuela won’t ever be a colony of something or anybody, by no means,” he mentioned.
It is a growing story. Verify again for updates.
