US is pursuing another oil tanker

Washington (dpa) — Just one day after the latest seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, the US Coast Guard is attempting to take control of another vessel, according to US media reports on Sunday.

The Coast Guard is pursuing a sanctioned tanker, broadcaster NBC News and news website Axios reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

NBC News quoted a US official as saying the vessel belonged to a so-called shadow fleet used by Venezuela to evade sanctions.

The ship was sailing under a false flag and was subject to a judicial seizure order, the official said.

If the operation succeeds, the United States would have seized three oil tankers in about a week and a half, including two this weekend alone.

US is pursuing another oil tanker

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said in a post on his Truth Social platform that he had ordered a “A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”

He justified the move by claiming that the South American country had stolen oil, land and other assets from the US, which must be returned.

Trump accused the regime of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro of using “Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping.”

On Saturday, the US Coast Guard had already taken control of an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast. In a post on X, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shared a video she said showed the operation and vowed continued action against the illegal shipment of sanctioned oil.

The US Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security.