US seizes second oil tanker, this time in Caribbean
U.S. Southern Command confirmed that the M/T Sophia oil tanker has been seized in the Caribbean, after the U.S. military announced that it had seized a Russian-flagged tanker in the North Atlantic on Wednesday. (Credit: U.S. Southern Command)
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The Trump administration has filed court warrants in an effort to seize more linked to Venezuela’s oil trade, according to media reports.
So far, five vessels have been seized by the U.S. military and Coast Guard in recent weeks in international waters.
The seizures were part of the administration’s pressure campaign to force former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out of power, which happened on Jan.3 when he was arrested by U.S. forces.
An oil tanker is seen anchored in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela after loading crude oil at the Bajo Grande Refinery port. The Trump administration has seized several tankers linked to Venezuela’s oil trade. (Jose Bula Urrutia/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)
After his capture, President Donald Trump said the United States would control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and Justice Department.
Through federal courts, the U.S. government has filed multiple civil forfeiture actions to force the seizure and confiscation of oil cargoes and ships that have been involved in the trade, the sources told Reuters.
It was not clear how many seizure warrants the U.S. has filed for.
US FORCES ATTEMPTING TO BOARD SANCTIONED RUSSIAN-FLAGGED OIL TANKER IN NORTH ATLANTIC, SOURCES SAY
U.S. troops took over a Venezuelan oil tanker on Saturday, Dec. 20. (DHS Secretary Kristi Noem via X)
On Friday, the War Department said it “will hunt down and interdict ALL dark fleet vessels transporting Venezuelan oil at the time and place of our choosing.”
“The Department of War blockade in the Caribbean Sea remains in full effect — and very effective,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X. “In the past 24 hours alone, at least seven “dark fleet” oil vessels have turned around to avoid interdiction—because they know we mean business. The days of letting criminal activity run rampant in our hemisphere are OVER.”
A day earlier, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department was monitoring several other vessels amid news of the U.S. seizure of the Bella-1 tanker, a Russian-flagged oil vessel allegedly responsible for transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
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Russia, like Venezuela, relies on the shadow fleet to carry oil that is under sanctions.
