The United States has seized a crude oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount with the government being run by President Nicolas Maduro. The administration also released a video on social media which appears to show US troops boarding the vessel via helicopter.
The seizure was led by the US federal bureau of investigation, homeland security investigations, and the US coast guard, with support from the department of war, according to a U.S. official.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi, said the FBI and other federal agencies, with support from the Pentagon, executed a seizure warrant for the crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
Bondi posted a 45-second video on X showing U.S. helicopters hovering over the ship and service members climbing down ropes to board.
“Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran,” Bondi wrote on December 10.
Pamela Bondi, while posting the video on social media, said that the oil tanker has been sanctioned for multiple years by the United States due to its “involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”
Footage shared by Bondi shows a helicopter hovering over a large ship, and troops descending onto the deck using ropes.
“This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely – and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues,” she added in its post on X.
The move risks further escalating tensions with Venezuela, where Trump has intensified a pressure campaign aimed at forcing the nation’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, out of power.
The Trump administration accuses Venezuela of funnelling narcotics into the US and has intensified its efforts to pressure President Maduro in recent months.
Venezuela has, in turn, accused Washington of seeking to take its oil.
In recent months, the US has been carrying out strikes on boats allegedly transporting substantial amounts of narcotics bound for America.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov condemned a US strike on a boat in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela on October 3. Four male “narco-terrorists” aboard the vessel were killed in the strike, according to US officials.
Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office.
