US Seizes Oil Tanker Near Venezuela: New Details

How the special operation went down and what Trump said.

The United States has stopped the movement of an oil tanker that was carrying oil from Venezuela to Iran despite sanctions, the White House said. US President Donald Trump said it was the largest ship ever to be seized. A video shot by the US military shows all the details of the special operation, which involved a helicopter and a group of special forces against the sailors.

The seizure of the oil tanker took place near the coast of Venezuela, Trump confirmed during a press conference at the White House. Oil prices spiked globally afterward, meanwhile U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi explained that the reason for the special operation was the seizure of an offshore vessel that had been sanctioned because of fuel shipments from Venezuela to Iran.

Trump succinctly reported the seizure of the tanker, but gave no details, only noting the significant size of the vessel. Pamela Bondi posted a 45-second video of the special operation. The video showed about a dozen commandos in full combat gear landing from a Black Hawk military helicopter onto the tanker. They scatter on the deck, approach the deckhouse, inspect the territory. No sailors are seen fighting or using firearms.

The prosecutor wrote in X that the special operation to seize the tanker was jointly conducted by "the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Investigations Service and the U.S. Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War." Thus executed the warrant issued for the under-sanctioned ship: the tanker was arrested, the memo said.

"For several years, this oil tanker has been under sanctions by the United States because of its involvement in an illegal oil transportation network supporting foreign terrorist organizations," Bondi stressed, commenting on the incident in Venezuela.

Tanker hijacking - details

Analysts at MarineTraffic, a portal that tracks maritime vessel trackers, have determined that the hijacking of the VLCC Skipper tanker has occurred. It is indicated that the ship had been under sanctions since 2022 and repeatedly turned off AIS tracking devices while in Iranian waters. In addition, the tanker transmitted fake AIS signals and transported cargo in the Red Sea, Iran and Syria. The portal specifies that the oil tanker was flying the flag of Guyana. A MarineTraffic note has information about the trajectory of the ship, which loaded 1.1 million tons of Merey crude oil at the Jose terminal in Venezuela.

World oil prices reacted to the seizure of the tanker near Venezuela, the Bloomberg portal reported. Analysts of the portal explained that because of the international conflict, other carriers will now be afraid to approach the ports of this country. At the same time, a significant part of the ships were carrying oil to China. After the incident, Caracas said that there was a "blatant theft" and an "act of piracy", and because of the confrontation between the US and Venezuela, oil futures rose on exchanges.

It should be noted that the U.S. sent a flotilla of warships to Venezuela in the fall of 2025, meanwhile Trump said he was launching a crackdown on President Nicolas Maduro's drug traffickers. Aircraft then launched several missile strikes on boats carrying a dozen people the White House described as drug traffickers. In November, the Pentagon announced the launch of special operation "White Spear".

You can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com