(Jan 16): US forces seized another oil tanker near Venezuela on Thursday morning as Washington continues to crack down on a global shadow fleet used to export sanctioned crude.
Marines and sailors apprehended the ship, the Veronica, without incident in a pre-dawn operation, the US Southern Command said in a post on X. The Defense Department said the ship was subject to US sanctions.
The US has seized six ships in roughly the past month, both before and after US forces captured former President Nicolas Maduro.
The Trump administration is pressuring Venezuela to end the use of sanctioned ships, which often fly false flags and use techniques like misleading satellite positioning signals to illegally export oil and other goods. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said restricting the flow of Venezuelan crude is crucial way to continue exerting leverage on the nation’s leaders.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week the US blockade of “sanctioned and illicit” Venezuelan oil remains in effect worldwide.
The latest seizure came as President Donald Trump is scheduled to host a highly anticipated meeting with María Corina Machado, the Venezuela opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who is looking to mend ties with the president and bolster her standing in Washington.
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Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez also plans to send an envoy to Washington to meet with senior US officials on Thursday. Trump on Wednesday spoke with Rodriguez and said he had a “very good call” with her, hailing her cooperation with his administration.
Thursday’s seizure was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The Trump administration plans to indefinitely control future sales of Venezuelan oil and hold the proceeds in US accounts. Trump said Venezuela would relinquish as much as 50 million barrels of its oil for the US to sell, valued at about US$2.8 billion at current market prices.
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Commodity traders Vitol Group and Trafigura Group have already received an initial batch of 4.83 million barrels to sell for the US government. Proceeds from the crude sales would benefit the US and the Venezuelan people, Trump has said.
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