U.S. Coast Guard officials reported on Sunday that they are tracking an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela. This operation marks the second such action over the weekend and the third in the past week.
A U.S. official stated that the tanker is subject to sanctions, though officials did not disclose the exact location of the pursuit. Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” targeting all sanctioned oil tankers traveling to or from Venezuela.
Trump’s campaign to increase pressure on Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro has included a reinforced U.S. military presence in the region, along with more than two dozen military strikes against vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near South America. These actions have reportedly resulted in at least 100 deaths.
On Saturday, U.S. forces intercepted a second commercial tanker carrying oil near Venezuelan waters in international territory, as part of the ongoing U.S. oil blockade, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
This latest interception follows the seizure of another oil tanker by U.S. forces near Venezuela on December 10. Both vessels were reportedly en route to Asia.
These developments come as Trump and his advisers refuse to rule out the possibility of open conflict with Venezuela, after Maduro instructed his navy to escort oil tankers, challenging the largest U.S. naval presence in the region in decades.
Following the first tanker seizure, the Venezuelan government issued a statement calling the U.S. action a “blatant theft” and described it as “an act of international piracy.”
