US Seizes Tanker Off Venezuela Coast   12/11 06:14

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United 
States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount 
with the government of President Nicols Maduro.

   Using U.S. forces to take control of a merchant ship is incredibly unusual 
and marks the Trump administration's latest push to increase pressure on 
Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States. The U.S. 
has built up the largest military presence in the region in decades and 
launched a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the 
Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The campaign is facing growing 
scrutiny from Congress.

   "We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very 
large, largest one ever seized, actually," Trump told reporters at the White 
House, later adding that "it was seized for a very good reason."

   Trump did not offer additional details. When asked what would happen to the 
oil aboard the tanker, Trump said, "Well, we keep it, I guess."

   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 it was conducted 
under U.S. law enforcement authority.

   Storming the oil tanker

   The Coast Guard members were taken to the oil tanker by helicopter from the 
aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the official said. The Ford is in the 
Caribbean Sea after arriving last month in a major show of force, joining a 
fleet of other warships.

   Video posted to social media by Attorney General Pam Bondi shows people 
fast-roping from one of the helicopters involved in the operation as it hovers 
just feet from the deck.

   The Coast Guard members can be seen later in the video moving throughout the 
superstructure of the ship with their weapons drawn.

   Bondi wrote that "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."

   Venezuela's government said in a statement that the seizure "constitutes a 
blatant theft and an act of international piracy."

   "Under these circumstances, the true reasons for the prolonged aggression 
against Venezuela have finally been revealed. ... It has always been about our 
natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively 
to the Venezuelan people," the statement said.

   Half of ship's oil is tied to Cuban importer

   The U.S. official identified the seized tanker as the Skipper.

   The ship departed Venezuela around Dec. 2 with about 2 million barrels of 
heavy crude, roughly half of it belonging to a Cuban state-run oil importer, 
according to documents from the state-owned company Petrleos de Venezuela 
S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, that were provided on the condition of anonymity 
because the person did not have permission to share them.

   The Skipper was previously known as the M/T Adisa, according to ship 
tracking data. The Adisa was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 over accusations of 
belonging to a sophisticated network of shadow tankers that smuggled crude oil 
on behalf of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.

   The network was reportedly run by a Switzerland-based Ukrainian oil trader, 
the U.S. Treasury Department said at the time.

   Hitting Venezuela's sanctioned oil business

   Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 
million barrels a day.

   PDVSA is the backbone of the country's economy. Its reliance on 
intermediaries increased in 2020, when the first Trump administration expanded 
its maximum-pressure campaign on Venezuela with sanctions that threaten to lock 
out of the U.S. economy any individual or company that does business with 
Maduro's government. Longtime allies Russia and Iran, both also sanctioned, 
have helped Venezuela skirt restrictions.

   The transactions usually involve a complex network of shadowy 
intermediaries. 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.

   Maduro did not address the seizure during a speech before a ruling-party 
organized demonstration in Caracas, Venezuela's capital. But he told supporters 
that the country is "prepared to break the teeth of the North American empire 
if necessary."

   Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to 
force him from office.

   Democrat says the move is about 'regime change'

   Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, said the U.S. seizing the oil tanker cast doubt on the 
administration's stated reasons for the military buildup and boat strikes.

   "This shows that their whole cover story -- that this is about interdicting 
drugs -- is a big lie," the senator said. "This is just one more piece of 
evidence that this is really about regime change -- by force."

   Vincent P. O'Hara, a naval historian and author of "The Greatest Naval War 
Ever Fought," called the seizure "very unusual" and "provocative." Noting that 
the action will probably deter other ships from the Venezuela coastline, he 
said, "If you have no maritime traffic or access to that, then you have no 
economy."

   The seizure comes a day after the U.S. military flew a pair of fighter jets 
over the Gulf of Venezuela in what appeared to be the closest that warplanes 
had come to the South American country's airspace. Trump has said land attacks 
are coming soon but has not offered more details.

   The Trump administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over 
the boat strike campaign, which has killed at least 87 people in 22 known 
strikes since early September, including a follow-up strike that killed two 
survivors clinging to the wreckage of a boat after the first hit.

   Some legal experts and Democrats say that action may have violated the laws 
governing the use of deadly military force.

   Lawmakers are demanding to get unedited video from the strikes, but Defense 
Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional leaders at a classified briefing 
Tuesday that he was still weighing whether to release it.

   The Coast Guard referred a request for comment about the tanker seizure to 
the White House.