US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, marking a sharp escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro’s government.
“We have just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela – a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Releasing a video of the seizure, Attorney General Pam Bondi described the vessel as a “crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran”.
Caracas swiftly denounced the action, calling it an act of “international piracy”. Earlier, President Maduro declared that Venezuela would never become an “oil colony”.
The Trump administration accuses Venezuela of funnelling narcotics into the US and has intensified its efforts to pressure President Maduro in recent months.
Venezuela – home to some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves – has, in turn, accused Washington of seeking to take its oil.
Oil prices inched higher on Wednesday as news of the seizure stoked short-term supply concerns. Analysts warn the move could threaten shippers and further disrupt Venezuela’s oil exports.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who leads the US Department of Justice, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the US Coast Guard co-ordinated the seizure.
“For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,” the nation’s top prosecutor wrote on X.
Footage shared by Bondi showed a military helicopter hovering over a large ship, and troops descending on to the deck using ropes. Uniformed men were seen in the clip moving about the ship with guns drawn.
A senior military official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that the mission to seize the tanker was launched from a Department of War vessel.
It involved two helicopters, 10 Coast Guard members and 10 Marines, as well as special forces.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was aware of the operation, and the Trump administration was considering more actions like this, the source said.
When asked by reporters what the US would do with the oil on the tanker, Trump said: “We keep it, I guess… I assume we’re going to keep the oil.”
Maritime risk company Vanguard Tech has identified the oil tanker as Skipper.
“The vessel is reported to be part of the dark fleet, and was sanctioned by the United States for carrying Venezuelan oil exports,” it says.
BBC Verify has located this tanker on MarineTraffic, which shows it was sailing under the flag of Guyana when its position was last updated two days ago.
The Venezuelan government issued a statement denouncing the seizure as a “grave international crime”.
“Venezuela will not allow any foreign power to attempt to deprive the Venezuelan people of what belongs to them by historical and constitutional right,” it said.
It said the prolonged aggression against Venezuela has always been about “our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people”.
Speaking at a rally earlier on Wednesday, Maduro had a message for Americans opposed to war with Venezuela. It came in the form of a 1988 hit song.
“To American citizens who are against the war, I respond with a very famous song: Don’t worry, be happy,” Maduro said in Spanish before singing along to the lyrics of the 1988 hit.
“Not war, be happy. Not, not crazy war, not, be happy.”
It’s unclear if Maduro knew about the seizure of the tanker before this rally.
After American forces boarded the vessel, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello called the US “murderers, thieves, pirates”.
He referred to Pirates of the Caribbean, but said that while that film’s lead character Jack Sparrow was a “hero”, he believed “these guys are high seas criminals, buccaneers”.
Cabello said this was how the US had “started wars all over the world”.
In recent days, the US has ramped up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, which borders Venezuela to the north.
The build-up involves thousands of troops and the world’s largest warship, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, being positioned within striking distance of Venezuela, BBC Verify reported.
The move has sparked speculation about the potential for some kind of military action.
Since September, the US has conducted at least 22 strikes on boats in the region that the Trump administration says are smuggling drugs. At least 80 people have died in these attacks.
Ione Wells contributed to this report.
