{"id":2076,"date":"2025-12-14T07:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T07:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=2076"},"modified":"2025-12-14T00:46:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T00:46:30","slug":"trump-says-u-s-has-seized-oil-tanker-off-coast-of-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=2076","title":{"rendered":"Trump says U.S. has seized oil tanker off coast of Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>President&nbsp;Donald Trump&nbsp;said Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as&nbsp;tensions mount&nbsp;with the government of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using U.S. forces to seize an oil tanker is incredibly unusual and marks the Trump administration\u2019s latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been&nbsp;charged with narcoterrorism&nbsp;in the United States. The U.S. has built up the largest military presence in the region in decades and launched a series of&nbsp;deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats&nbsp;in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The campaign is facing growing scrutiny from Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Asake - Organise (Official Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_u4_iWCvZ5c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually,\u201d Trump told reporters at the White House, later adding that &#8220;it was seized for a very good reason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump said \u201cother things are happening,\u201d but did not offer additional details, saying he would speak more about it later. When asked what would happen to the oil aboard the tanker, Trump said, \u201cWell, we keep it, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The seizure was led by the U.S. Coast Guard and supported by the Navy, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The official added that the seizure was conducted under U.S. law enforcement authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Venezuela has the world\u2019s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day. Locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions, the state-owned oil company sells most of its output at a steep discount to refiners in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The transactions usually involve a complex network of shadowy intermediaries, as sanctions have scared away more established traders. Many are shell companies, registered in jurisdictions known for secrecy. The buyers deploy so-called ghost tankers that hide their location and hand off their valuable cargoes in the middle of the ocean before they reach their final destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maduro did not address the seizure during a speech before a ruling-party organized demonstration in Caracas, Venezuela\u2019s capital. But he told supporters that the country is \u201cprepared to break the teeth of the North American empire if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maduro, flanked by senior officials, said only the ruling party can \u201cguarantee peace, stability, and the harmonious development of Venezuela, South America and the Caribbean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maduro previously has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During past negotiations, among the concessions the U.S. has made to Maduro was approval for oil giant Chevron Corp. to resume pumping and exporting Venezuelan oil. The corporation\u2019s activities in the South American country resulted in a financial lifeline for Maduro\u2019s government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The seizure comes a day after the U.S. military&nbsp;flew a pair of fighter jets&nbsp;over the Gulf of Venezuela in what appeared to be the closest that warplanes had come to the South American country\u2019s airspace. Trump has said&nbsp;land attacks are coming soon&nbsp;but has not offered more details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Trump administration is facing&nbsp;increasing scrutiny from lawmakers&nbsp;over the boat strike campaign, which has killed at least 87 people in&nbsp;22 known strikes&nbsp;since early September, including&nbsp;a follow-up strike that killed two survivors&nbsp;clinging to the wreckage of a boat after the first hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some legal experts and Democrats say&nbsp;that action may have violated the laws governing the use of deadly military force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lawmakers are&nbsp;demanding to get unedited video&nbsp;from the strikes, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional leaders Tuesday he was still weighing whether to release it. Hegseth provided a classified briefing for congressional leaders alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was not immediately clear Wednesday who owned the tanker or what national flag it was sailing under. The Coast Guard referred a request for comment to the White House. <a href=\"https:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/world\/trump-says-the-us-has-seized-an-oil-tanker-off-the-coast-of-venezuela\">(JapanToday)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President&nbsp;Donald Trump&nbsp;said Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as&nbsp;tensions mount&nbsp;with the government of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. Using U.S. forces to seize an oil tanker is incredibly unusual and marks the Trump administration\u2019s latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been&nbsp;charged with narcoterrorism&nbsp;in the United [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2455,55,2451,2453,2454,57,2452],"class_list":["post-2076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign","tag-caribbean-sea","tag-donald-trump","tag-nicolas-maduro","tag-oil-tanker","tag-pacific-ocean","tag-united-states","tag-venezuela"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trump says U.S. has seized oil tanker off coast of Venezuela - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0said Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as\u00a0tensions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=2076\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump says U.S. has seized oil tanker off coast of Venezuela - 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