US forces captured an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, marking a sharp escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against the government of Nicolás Maduro.
“We just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a large, very large oil tanker, the largest ever seized,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Releasing video of the seizure, Attorney General Pam Bondi described the vessel as a “crude tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”
Caracas quickly denounced the action, calling it an act of “international piracy.” Previously, President Maduro had declared that Venezuela would never become an “oil colony.”
The Trump administration accuses Venezuela of funneling narcotics to the United States and has stepped up efforts to isolate President Maduro in recent months.
Venezuela, home to some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, has in turn accused Washington of trying to steal its resources.
Brent crude oil prices rose slightly on Wednesday as news of the seizure stoked concerns about near-term supply. Analysts warn that the move could threaten shippers and further disrupt Venezuela’s oil exports.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who heads the U.S. Department of Justice, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard coordinated the seizure.
“For several years, the oilman has been sanctioned by the United States due to his participation in an illicit oil transportation network that supports foreign terrorist organizations,” the country’s top prosecutor wrote in X.
Images shared by Bondi showed a military helicopter flying over a large ship and troops descending to the deck on ropes. In the video, uniformed men are seen moving around the ship with weapons in their hands.
A senior military official told the BBC’s US partner CBS that the helicopters used in the operation took off from the USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, which was sent to the Caribbean last month.
Two helicopters, 10 members of the Coast Guard and 10 marines, as well as special forces, participated in it.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was aware of the operation and the Trump administration was considering more actions like it, a source told CBS.
When asked by reporters what the United States would do with the oil in the tanker, Trump said: “I guess we’ll keep it…I guess we’ll keep the oil.”
Maritime risk firm Vanguard Tech identified the ship as the Skipper and said it believed the ship had been “spoofing” its position (or transmitting a false location) for a long time.
The US Treasury Department sanctioned Skipper in 2022, CBS reported, for his alleged involvement in oil smuggling that generated revenue for Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
BBC Verify located this tanker on MarineTraffic, showing it was sailing under the flag of Guyana when its position was last updated two days ago. However, a statement from the Guyana Maritime Administration Department on Wednesday evening said the Skipper was “falsely flying the Guyanese flag as it is not registered in Guyana.”
The Venezuelan government issued a statement denouncing the seizure as a “serious international crime.”
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello called the United States “murderers, thieves, pirates.”
He referred to Pirates of the Caribbean, but said that while that film’s main character, Jack Sparrow, was a “hero,” he believed that “these guys are high-seas criminals, buccaneers.”
Cabello said that this was how the United States had “started wars all over the world.”
At a rally early Wednesday, Maduro had a message for Americans who oppose war with Venezuela. It came in the form of a 1988 hit song.
“To the 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 the lyrics of the 1988 hit.
“Not war, be happy. No, not crazy war, no, be happy.”
It is unclear whether Maduro knew about the tanker seizure before this demonstration.
In recent days, the United States has intensified its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, which borders Venezuela to the north.
Preparation involves thousands of troops and the USS Gerald Ford being positioned within striking distance of Venezuela, BBC Verify reported.
The move has sparked speculation about the possibility of some type of military action.
Since September, the United States has carried out at least 22 attacks against ships 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 from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
