USA takes control of tankers off Venezuela

Rappelled from helicopter

US soldiers land on tankers off Venezuela

The US government has seized a tanker off the Venezuelan coast. This further escalates tensions between both countries.

The USA has taken control of a tanker off Venezuela. This was confirmed by US President Donald Trump. “As you probably know, we just seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a big one… the largest ever seized,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday afternoon (local time). “You’ll see that later, and we’ll talk to some other people about it later.”

It is not yet known which flag the tanker was traveling under. A person familiar with the incident, who wished to remain anonymous, said the ship was on its way to Cuba, writes the US newspaper Politico. The cargo was supposed to be sold by the state-owned company Cubametales to energy traders in Asia.

Trump also stated that “other things would happen,” but did not provide further details. He said he would like to share more information at a later date. Justice Minister Pamela Bondi shared a video on the X platform that is said to show US officials landing on the tanker.

The Venezuelan government strongly condemned the storming. The operation was “a brazen robbery and an act of international piracy,” said a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Caracas. “Now the real reasons for the ongoing aggression against Venezuela are becoming apparent. It is not about migration. It is not about drug trafficking. It is not about democracy. It is not about human rights,” said the statement from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry. “It’s always about our mineral resources, our oil, our energy, about the resources that belong exclusively to the people of Venezuela.”

According to US information, the tanker is said to be part of an illegal network to transport oil to support foreign terrorist organizations. It was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran, US Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on Platform

According to the British maritime risk management group Vanguard, it was the tanker “Skipper”, which, according to the government of Guyana, was incorrectly flying the flag of the South American country. The country’s maritime authority said Wednesday it had been informed of the seizure by the U.S. government. In a statement, she spoke of an unacceptable trend of unauthorized use of Guyana’s flag. The US had imposed sanctions on the ship because it was said to have been involved in the Iranian oil trade under the name “Adisa”.