President Trump said on Wednesday that US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking the latest US escalation in its push toward a regime change war aimed at ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” the president said during an event at the White House. “A large tanker, very large. Largest one ever seized, actually, and other things are happening.”
US officials told CBS News that the seizure involved 10 members of the US Coast Guard, 10 US Marines, and special operations forces. Other reports said that the tanker, named The Skipper, departed Venezuela and was on its way to Cuba when it was boarded by US forces.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi released footage of the operation and claimed the tanker was “used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.” She said the tanker had been sanctioned by the US for “multiple years.”
The US seizure came less than a month after the US military condemned Iran for seizing a tanker off its own coast that it claimed was smuggling fuel, an action US Central Command called illegal.
“Iran’s use of military forces to conduct an armed boarding and seizure of a commercial vessel in international waters constitutes a blatant violation of international law, undermining freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce. We call on Iran to articulate to the international community the legal basis for its actions,” CENTCOM said.
Trump was asked what would happen to the oil, and he replied, “Well, we keep it, I guess.” During the first Trump administration, the US stole several shipments of Iranian gas that were bound for Venezuela and sold them. Iran and Venezuela’s trade relationship grew at the time due to both countries facing crippling economic sanctions, and they began to trade gas for gold.
Proponents of a regime change war have pointed to the country’s vast oil resources as a reason to attack. “Venezuela, for those Americans who do not understand why we need to go in … Venezuela, for the American oil companies, will be a field day, because it will be more than a trillion dollars in economic activity,” Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) said last month.
The US escalation against Venezuela came a day after the US flew two Navy F/A-18 fighter jets deep into the Gulf of Venezuela, marking what appeared to be the closest US flight to the country’s coast since the major US military buildup began in the Caribbean a few months ago.