Media reviews: USA pursues third oil tanker off Venezuela | EUROtoday

Just a day after the current seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, the US Coast Guard is making an attempt to take management of one other tanker, in line with media reviews. The Coast Guard is pursuing a sanctioned ship, reported the US broadcaster NBC News and the information portal Axios, amongst others, citing individuals aware of the matter.

NBC News quoted a authorities official as saying that it was a ship from the so-called shadow fleet that Venezuela was making an attempt to make use of to keep away from sanctions. “It is flying a false flag and is subject to a court order to confiscate it,” it continued.

If the Coast Guard succeeds within the operation, the USA would have seized three oil tankers in round per week and a half – it could be the second seizure this weekend alone. The newest actions adopted US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a “full and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.”

He justified this by saying that the South American nation had stolen oil, land and different property from the USA – these needed to be returned. The Republican additionally accused Venezuela’s authoritarian head of state Nicolás Maduro of utilizing “the oil from these stolen oil fields to finance drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnappings.”

According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the US Coast Guard solely took management of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela early on Saturday morning. Her X-Post included a video that was supposed to point out the motion. The minister introduced that she would proceed to take motion in opposition to the unlawful delivery of sanctioned oil. The US Coast Guard is beneath the Department of Homeland Security.