U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his country intercepted and seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, raising tensions between Washington and Caracas.
“We have just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a large, very large tanker, the largest ever seized, in fact,” the president declared at the beginning of a round table with businessmen at the White House.
U.S. government seizes oil tanker near Venezuela
❗️❗️VIDEO of the moment the U.S. seizes an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuelahttps://t.co/BZI4efomkY pic.twitter.com/KOOY8ZuZ0e
– RT en Español (@ActualidadRT) December 10, 2025
The Bloomberg agency had first reported exclusively, citing familiar sources, that a U.S.-sanctioned oil tanker had been seized by the U.S. off the coast of Venezuela.
According to The New York Times, the tanker, named Skipper and sailing under a false flag, was seized by order of a U.S. judge for its previous links to Iranian oil smuggling, sanctioned by Washington, and not for any connection with the government of Nicolás Maduro, although on this occasion it was carrying Venezuelan crude oil.
These events occurred on the same day as the ceremony in Oslo where the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who did not attend, although she assured that she will arrive in the Norwegian capital in the next few hours.
Donald Trump’s administration has increased pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro, whom it accuses of leading an international drug trafficking network through the alleged criminal group Cartel of the Suns, something Caracas strongly denies.
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Since September, the U.S. Armed Forces have destroyed more than a score of allegedly drug-laden vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific, extrajudicially killing more than 80 crew members.
Trump has vowed that “soon” attacks inside Venezuelan territory will begin, while Maduro has called on his citizens to unite against U.S. threats and enlist in citizen militias.
PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, is working on drilling with U.S.-based Chevron, which has a license from the Treasury Department that exempts it from sanctions.
Filed as: US seizes oil tanker
With information from EFE
