USA seizes oil tankers off Venezuela once more | EUROtoday

As of: December 21, 2025 1:08 a.m

The USA has as soon as once more seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela – in worldwide waters. The measure follows an announcement by US President Trump to dam sanctioned ships.

The USA has once more seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The ship, which final docked in Venezuela, was arrested with the assistance of the army, as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem introduced on Platform X. Several US media had beforehand reported on it. Noem introduced that the US would proceed to crack down on unlawful commerce in sanctioned oil.

According to the British maritime danger evaluation firm Vanguard, the ship is claimed to be the Panama-flagged “Centuries”.

Previously, US President Donald Trump had ordered a “blockade” of all oil tankers which might be topic to US sanctions and that arrive or depart Venezuela. Trump claimed that the South American nation had stolen oil, land and different property from the US – these have to be returned. At the start of the 2000s, Venezuela nationalized oil fields – each international and US corporations have been affected. As a outcome, a dispute arose over compensation funds.

Venezuela’s crude oil exports are declining

It is just not the primary seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela. The US army had already taken management of a tanker final week. The authorities of the South American nation strongly condemned the storming. Venezuelan crude oil exports have since fallen sharply. Loaded ships stay in Venezuelan waters fairly than danger confiscation.

The tone between the USA and Venezuela has been getting sharper for months. Trump described the federal government of the authoritarian Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as a terrorist group and threatened to start US floor operations within the South American nation quickly. Maduro accuses Washington of desirous to pressure regime change and focusing on the nation’s oil reserves.

The US army has repeatedly attacked and sunk boats allegedly loaded with medicine. It has not but offered any concrete proof to justify these operations. From the angle of UN human rights consultants, the US authorities is violating worldwide regulation with the assaults.

https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/amerika/usa-tanker-venezuela-100.html