The vessel was flying a false flag and beneath a judicial seizure order, in accordance with US officers cited by US media.
Printed On 21 Dec 2025
The US is pursuing an oil tanker in worldwide waters close to Venezuela, US media reported, in what could be the second such operation in two days and the third in lower than two weeks.
“The US Guard is in energetic pursuit of a sanctioned darkish fleet vessel that’s a part of Venezuela’s unlawful sanctions evasion,” a US official advised the Reuters information company on Sunday.
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“It’s flying a false flag and beneath a judicial seizure order.”
One other official advised the company that the tanker was beneath sanctions, however added that it had not been boarded to this point and that interceptions can take completely different varieties – together with crusing or flying near vessels of concern.
The officers, who had been talking on situation of anonymity, didn’t give a selected location for the operation or identify the vessel being pursued.
The pursuit of the tanker was additionally reported by The Related Press information company, which cited an official briefed on the operation individually.
The official, who additionally spoke on situation of anonymity, stated Sunday’s pursuit concerned “a sanctioned darkish fleet vessel that’s a part of Venezuela’s unlawful sanctions evasion.”
The official additionally stated that the vessel was flying a false flag and beneath a judicial seizure order.
Two tankers seized
The pursuit comes after the US seized an oil tanker off Venezuela on Saturday as a part of a “blockade” ordered by US President Donald Trump.
US Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem said on Saturday that the coastguard apprehended the vessel with assist from the Pentagon.
“The US will proceed to pursue the illicit motion of sanctioned oil that’s used to fund narco terrorism within the area,” she wrote.
“We’ll discover you, and we are going to cease you,” she added.
The operation marked the second time in latest weeks that the US has seized a tanker close to Venezuela, and it comes amid a big US navy build-up within the area.
Trump, whose administration has continued to ramp up strain on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, ordered on Tuesday a “complete and full blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers coming into and leaving the South American nation.
Trump’s strain marketing campaign on Maduro has additionally included a ramped-up navy presence within the area and greater than two dozen navy strikes on alleged drug trafficking vessels within the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea close to the South American nation. No less than 100 individuals have been killed within the assaults.
The 2 oil tankers that had been seized had been working on the black market and offering oil to international locations beneath sanctions, Kevin Hassett, director of the White Home’s Nationwide Financial Council, stated in a TV interview on Sunday.
