US forces have seized a crude oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in Washington’s campaign against President Nicolás Maduro. Caracas denounced the move as “an act of international piracy”.
President Donald Trump confirmed the operation on Wednesday, describing the vessel as “the largest one ever seized”. He declined to reveal the ownership of the tanker but insisted it had been taken “for a very good reason”.
Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, released footage of the seizure on social media. The 45‑second clip showed US forces landing on the tanker from a helicopter. Bondi said the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the US Coast Guard, supported by the Department of Defense, had executed a seizure warrant against the vessel, which had been sanctioned for years due to its role in transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran in support of terrorist organisations.
The Department of Homeland Security later posted its own edited video of the operation, accompanied by LL Cool J’s track Mama Said Knock You Out. The agency has faced repeated criticism for using music without permission, most recently from pop star Sabrina Carpenter, who condemned the practice as “evil and disgusting”. LL Cool J has not yet commented.
Venezuela’s government issued a statement condemning the seizure as “blatant theft”, claiming it revealed the true motives behind US hostility. “It has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy,” the statement read.
Speaking at a rally in Caracas, Maduro urged citizens to prepare to resist US aggression, telling them to act like “warriors” ready “to smash the teeth of the North American empire if necessary”. Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chávez in 2013, is widely accused of rigging last year’s presidential election. His opponent, Edmundo González, fled into exile in Spain after a wave of repression.
Since August, Washington has intensified pressure on Maduro, placing a $50m bounty on his head, deploying the largest naval force in the Caribbean since the Cuban missile crisis, and carrying out airstrikes on suspected drug‑running boats that have killed more than 80 people. On Tuesday, US fighter jets circled the Gulf of Venezuela for 40 minutes, flying close to Maracaibo.
Meanwhile, opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel peace prize in Oslo for her efforts to promote democratic rights and a peaceful transition from dictatorship. Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, accepted the award, vowing that her mother’s struggle against “obscene corruption” and “brutal dictatorship” would continue.
Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, remains heavily dependent on exports despite years of mismanagement and corruption. China is its main customer. The precise objective of the tanker seizure remains unclear.
Juan González, a former senior adviser on Latin America under Joe Biden, said last week that he had once urged the deployment of US navy destroyers off Venezuela’s coast and even considered an oil blockade. He suggested that Trump might now push Maduro towards a recall referendum, backed by threats of harsher measures if the result were ignored. “Imposing an oil blockade would shut down the entire economy,” González said, adding that such action would be “less aggressive than a land strike but still considered an act of war”.
