The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted an oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, according to Baltimore Chronicle with reference to U.S. officials. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the operation on social media, stating that the tanker was “apprehended” in a pre-dawn operation with support from the Department of Defense and that it had last made port in Venezuela.
Secretary Noem emphasized that the United States will continue to pursue illegal transportation of sanctioned oil used to fund narco-terrorism in the region. “We will find you, and we will stop you,” she wrote in the post. A video screenshot released by Noem shows the Coast Guard boarding the vessel on December 20, 2025.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth referred to former President Donald Trump’s previous threat to impose a blockade on all sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers. According to Hegseth, the blockade would remain in effect until Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro returns every stolen American asset.
This marks the second oil tanker seizure by the U.S. in the Caribbean this month. However, unlike the December 10 operation involving the tanker The Skipper, which was sanctioned, the vessel seized on Saturday was not on any sanctions list maintained by the U.S., the European Union, the U.K., or the United Nations, according to logistics data firm Kpler.
Earlier in December, the U.S. Coast Guard, supported by Navy helicopters, boarded and seized The Skipper for participating in illicit oil operations linked to Venezuela. Reuters first reported on the second vessel seizure.
Following Trump’s December 16 social media post about the blockade, Maduro stated that Venezuela would continue oil trade and described the blockade as an attempt at regime change. “This will just not happen, never, never, never — Venezuela will never be a colony of anything or anyone, never,” he said.
Earlier we wrote that Trump’s Name Added to Kennedy Center Facade After White House Announces Controversial Change.
