The U.S. Coast Guard was in pursuit of a sanctioned oil tanker in international waters on Sunday, a U.S. official confirmed, marking the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s intensifying efforts to target vessels connected to the Venezuelan government.
Why it matters
This operation represents a significant uptick in maritime enforcement in the region. The pursuit of the tanker off the coast of Venezuela is the second such operation this weekend and the third incident in less than a week. The frequency of these intercepts suggests a new, more aggressive phase in Washington’s strategy to isolate President Nicolás Maduro by cutting off the revenue streams derived from what the U.S. considers illicit oil trade.
What to know
A U.S. official told CBS News that Sunday’s pursuit targeted “a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.” The official noted that the ship was “flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”
While the U.S. officials who spoke with Reuters first reported the pursuit, they did not provide a specific location for the operation or disclose the name of the vessel involved.
This action follows a pre-dawn operation on Saturday, where the U.S. Coast Guard seized a Panama-flagged vessel called the Centuries. According to a U.S. official, that interdiction followed a “similar playbook” to an earlier seizure of an oil tanker near Venezuela just days prior. Last week, sources confirmed that the U.S. military had seized a sanctioned 20-year-old oil tanker that had recently departed a Venezuelan port.
President Trump last week called for a “total and complete blockade” on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or departing the South American nation. This directive coincides with broader military orders to target vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean alleged to be smuggling fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the U.S.—a campaign that has resulted in at least 104 deaths across 28 known strikes since early September.
What people are saying
The White House has characterized these vessels as critical components of a financial network supporting the Maduro government. Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly stated on social media that the vessel seized on Saturday was “a falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil and fund the narcoterrorist Maduro regime.”
In Caracas, the reaction has been sharp. In a statement released Saturday, the Venezuelan government condemned the seizure of the Centuries, labeling it a “serious act of piracy.”
“The colonialist model that the U.S. government seeks to impose through such practices will fail and be defeated by the Venezuelan people,” the statement read. Officials in Caracas warned that “these acts will not go unpunished” and vowed to “exercise all corresponding actions, including the complaint to the United Nations Security Council, other multilateral agencies and the governments of the world.”
Domestically, economic advisors are downplaying the impact on U.S. consumers. Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, appeared on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” Sunday to address concerns about energy markets.
“I don’t think that people need to be worried here in the U.S. that the prices are going to go up because of these seizures of these ships,” Hassett said, explaining that the first two tankers seized were operating on the black market and providing oil to countries under sanctions. “There’s just a couple of them, and they were black market ships.”
What happens next
The confrontation at sea is likely to lead to further diplomatic clashes at international bodies, as Venezuela has signaled its intent to lodge formal complaints with the United Nations.
Meanwhile, the U.S. appears poised to continue its physical interdiction strategy. With the administration enforcing a mandate for a blockade on sanctioned tankers, maritime operations in international waters surrounding Venezuela are expected to persist as a primary tool of economic pressure.
