US officials are reportedly preparing to storm and seize more tankers transporting Venezuelan oil to put pressure on dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Tensions between Washington and Caracas escalated when rifle-wielding US troops rappelled from helicopters to raid an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
Stunning footage showed commandos sweeping through the ship as they executed Donald Trump’s boldest play yet in his stand-off with Maduro.
The tanker was reportedly holding 1.1million barrels of sanction-hit Venezuelan oil.
Forces from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Coast Guard all came together for the slick sting.
The US authorities are now preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil to increase pressure on Maduro, six sources told Reuters.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “We’re not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world.”
One source said several more sanctioned tankers had been identified by the US for potential seizure.
Maduro slammed the US seizure, calling it an act of “naval piracy”.
“They kidnapped the crew, stole the ship and have inaugurated a new era, the era of criminal naval piracy in the Caribbean,” Maduro said at a presidential event.
He added that Venezuela will “secure all ships to guarantee the free trade of its oil around the world”.
Since the first Trump administration imposed punishing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on scores of such oil tankers to smuggle its crude into global supply chains.
A reduction or halt in Venezuelan oil exports, the main generator of revenue for the Venezuelan government, would strain the Maduro government’s finances.
Just today, oil buyers in Asia demanded deeper discounts on Venezuelan crude oil due to a flood of sanctioned oil from Russia and Iran on offer.
This was the first time America had interrupted Venezuela’s oil flow, and the first target not directly related to the drugs trade.
And it comes as America’s biggest military mobilisation since the Iraq war takes shape in the Caribbean Sea.
It is a major escalation in the US campaign against Venezuela – and is the strongest hint yet that America’s sights are set beyond drug traffickers.
Washington accuses Venezuela’s regime, led by Maduro and his top aides, of flooding drugs inside the American territory.
Up to this point, operations had been limited to remote strikes on small boats that America identified as “narco-terrorists”.
As of December 4, at least 87 people had been killed in 22 strikes on 23 vessels.
Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the US is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels.
He has repeatedly raised the possibility of military intervention in Venezuela, accusing it of sending narcotics to America.
The US Treasury Department said it imposed sanctions on six shipping companies moving Venezuelan oil, as well as six crude oil tankers that it said “have engaged in deceptive and unsafe shipping practices and continue to provide financial resources that fuel Maduro’s corrupt narco-terrorist regime.”
Four of the tankers, including the 2002-built H. Constance and the 2003-built Lattafa, are Panama-flagged, with the other two flagged by the Cook Islands and Hong Kong.
The targeted vessels are supertankers that recently loaded crude in Venezuela, according to state oil company PDVSA’s internal shipping documents.
Meanwhile, the US also imposed sanctions on three nephews of Maduro, among others, to put more pressure on the South American nation.
The new sanctions are Franqui Flores, Carlos Flores and Efrain Campo.
They are all accused of facilitating oil shipments on behalf of the Venezuelan government, and the Treasury says he has had business dealings with the Maduro-Flores family, including partnering in several companies together.
