U.S. Takes Control of Oil Tanker Near Venezuela, Trump Says
"As you probably know, we've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large. Largest one ever seized, actually," Trump declared during a White House event.
The operation involved U.S. forces executing a "judicial enforcement action on a stateless vessel" that had most recently docked in Venezuela, a senior U.S. official told media.
Global energy markets reacted immediately to the seizure, with Brent crude prices surging up to 0.8 percent during London trading sessions, media reported.
The tanker capture follows Trump's recent warnings that American military operations will commence "very soon" against drug trafficking operations on land throughout the Caribbean, significantly heightening friction between Washington and Venezuela.
Since September, the Pentagon has executed no fewer than 22 documented strikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean waters, resulting in at least 87 fatalities among those aboard the targeted ships.
Washington has positioned approximately a dozen warships—including the USS Gerald R. Ford, a frontline aircraft carrier—alongside roughly 15,000 military personnel throughout the Caribbean Sea, which borders substantial portions of Venezuela's territory. The deployment represents the largest American military buildup in the region in at least three decades.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has denounced Washington's aggressive posture as deliberate efforts to topple his administration while extending U.S. military dominance across Latin America.
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