The United States imposed new sanctions on six more ships allegedly carrying Venezuelan oil, a day after seizing an oil tanker off the country’s coast.
Sanctions have also been imposed on some of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s relatives and companies associated with what Washington calls his illegitimate regime.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the seized ship, named Skipper, had been involved in “illicit oil shipping” and would be taken to a US port.
Caracas has described it as an act of “international piracy.”
It marks a sharp escalation in the US pressure campaign against Maduro, in which dozens of people have been killed in attacks on ships allegedly transporting drugs from Venezuela, and US warships have come within striking distance of the South American country.
The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of funneling narcotics to the United States. Venezuela, home to some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, has in turn accused Washington of trying to steal its resources. Maduro had previously said that Venezuela would never become an “oil colony.”
But defending the US military action, Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Thursday that the United States was committed to both “stopping the flow of illegal drugs” into the country and enforcing sanctions.
He declined to know whether the White House planned to seize more ships carrying Venezuelan oil.
“We are not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the profits from which will fuel the narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world,” Leavitt said.
He added that the United States planned to confiscate the oil aboard the Skipper, after the necessary legal process.
Leavitt also said Trump would not be concerned “at all” to hear that Russian President Vladimir Putin had called Maduro earlier that day to offer Moscow’s support “in the face of growing external pressure.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later said that imposing sanctions on three of Maduro’s nephews, as well as several companies and ships, would address the leader’s “dictatorial and brutal control.”
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On Wednesday, the White House released dramatic video of the raid that showed camouflaged soldiers descending onto the ship from a helicopter and walking on its deck, weapons drawn.
The Venezuelan government strongly denounced the seizure of the Skipper and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello called the Americans “murderers, thieves, pirates.” That’s how the country “started wars all over the world,” he added.
The US Treasury Department sanctioned the Skipper ship in 2022, CBS reported, for its alleged involvement in oil smuggling that generated revenue for Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
The United States had intensified its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, which borders Venezuela to the north, in the days before the attack.
It involved thousands of troops and the USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, positioned within striking distance of Venezuela, BBC Verify reported.
