U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed late Wednesday, marking a brand new escalation within the White Home’s strain marketing campaign towards Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
A senior U.S. administration official informed CNN that the oil tanker, referred to as the Skipper, was carrying Venezuelan crude when it was apprehended in worldwide waters. Washington sanctioned the Skipper in 2022 “as a consequence of its involvement in a bootleg oil transport community supporting international terrorist organizations,” U.S. Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi wrote on X. This included allegedly facilitating oil trades for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Lebanese Hezbollah, a proxy group of Tehran. In response to CNN, the tanker was flying a Guyana flag however is just not registered in that nation.
U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed late Wednesday, marking a brand new escalation within the White Home’s strain marketing campaign towards Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
A senior U.S. administration official informed CNN that the oil tanker, referred to as the Skipper, was carrying Venezuelan crude when it was apprehended in worldwide waters. Washington sanctioned the Skipper in 2022 “as a consequence of its involvement in a bootleg oil transport community supporting international terrorist organizations,” U.S. Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi wrote on X. This included allegedly facilitating oil trades for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Lebanese Hezbollah, a proxy group of Tehran. In response to CNN, the tanker was flying a Guyana flag however is just not registered in that nation.
This was the primary U.S. seizure of Venezuelan oil cargo since Trump first imposed sweeping oil sanctions on the nation in 2019. Caracas denounced the seizure as “blatant theft and an act of worldwide piracy,” and the Iranian Embassy in Venezuela called it a “grave violation of worldwide legal guidelines and norms.”
Trump has repeatedly mentioned he’s contemplating U.S. navy strikes inside Venezuela as a part of a broader operation towards what the administration has labeled “narco-terrorism” in Latin America. That operation has included greater than 20 U.S. strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats within the Caribbean and jap Pacific, killing 87 people; a massive buildup of U.S. navy belongings within the area; and the designation of Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a international terrorist group, which Trump has accused Maduro of overseeing.
Maduro claims that Trump’s actions are a part of a scheme to enact regime change in Caracas and take control of the nation’s oil sources; Venezuela has the largest crude reserves on this planet.
Learn extra in immediately’s World Temporary: Trump Ramps Up the Pressure on Maduro.
This submit is a part of FP’s ongoing protection of the Trump administration. Observe alongside here.
