U.S. seizes oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, escalating tensions

Washington — The United States has seized a large tanker off the coast of Venezuela, officials said Wednesday, intensifying tensions between the two countries. President Trump said he assumed the United States would keep the oil.

Bloomberg was the first to report the tanker’s seizure. Mr Trump announced the seizure during a White House roundtable discussion, saying the tanker was “seized for a very good reason”.

“As you probably know, we just seized an oil tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a big tanker, a very big one,” he said. “Biggest one ever, actually. And other things are happening, so you’ll see it later and talk about it with other people later.”

Asked by a reporter what would happen to the oil on board the ship, Mr. Trump replied, “Well, we’ll keep it, I guess,” adding, “I guess we’ll keep the oil.”

The president did not provide further details.

The tanker is called The Skipper, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The operation to seize it began around 6 a.m. Wednesday and involved two helicopters, 10 Coast Guard personnel, 10 Marines and special operations forces, according to a senior military official and a source close to the operation. The Skipper had just left port in Venezuela when it was seized, they said.

The helicopters used during the seizure of the tanker launched from the USS Gerald Ford and the boarding team consisted of the Coast Guard’s Maritime Security and Response Team, an elite maritime interdiction unit based on the East Coast in Chesapeake, Virginia, according to a senior military official and a source familiar with the operation.

The USS Gerald Ford, the most advanced aircraft carrier in the U.S. fleet, arrived in the Caribbean last month amid a larger military reinforcement in the region.

The captain was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2022 for his alleged ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah. At the time, he was sailing under the name Adisa. The 20-year-old tanker previously sailed as The Toyo in 2005, according to public shipping data.

Attorney General Pam Bondi shared video of the seizure on social media, writing that the tanker was “used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran” and was seized by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Coast Guard, “with support from the War Department.”

“For several years, the tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil transportation network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,” Bondi wrote.

The operation was carried out by the US Coast Guard, supported by naval forces, according to US officials. Such an operation would legally require the Coast Guard to be the lead agency, as the authorities used for these seizures fall under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard.

While the U.S. government – ​​particularly the Department of Justice and Homeland Security Investigations – has seized sanctioned oil tankers before, performing a rapid rope boarding from helicopters at sea is rare, although boarding teams train for it.

The Trump administration is considering other missions similar to Wednesday’s, according to the senior military official and a source familiar with the operation.

Mr. Trump has threatened to expand the months-long US crackdown. strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans to land in Venezuela. The United States has gradually built up its military forces in the region and this week deployed two fighter jets to fly over the Gulf of Venezuela.

“We’re going to start doing those ground strikes as well,” Mr. Trump said. told reporters at a Cabinet meeting last week, when asked about the administration’s offshore strikes. “You know, the land is a lot easier…And we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad guys live. And we’re going to start that very soon too.”