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By Hannah Parry, Brendan Cole, Daniel Orton, Robert Birsel, John Feng, and Amira El-Fekki
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The United States has announced a series of new sanctions targeting the family of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro just one day after it seized an oil tanker off the coast of the South American country. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on Maduro's wife Cilia Flores' three nephews on Thursday. A Maduro-affiliated businessman and six shipping companies operating in Venezuela’s oil sector have also been hit by the new sanctions.
“Nicolas Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “These sanctions undo the Biden Administration’s failed attempt to make a deal with Maduro, enabling his dictatorial and brutal control at the expense of the Venezuelan and American people. Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury is holding the regime and its circle of cronies and companies accountable for its continued crimes.”
The sanctions come as the White House declined to rule out further oil tanker seizures in the future.
What To Know
- Initial reports on Wednesday cited U.S. officials saying the Coast Guard carried out the tanker seizure under international maritime law, targeting vessels tied to alleged illicit PDVSA-linked crude shipments.
- U.S President Donald Trump later confirmed the seizure, hinting that “other things are happening,” but offered no further details.
- Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Maduro on Thursday to reassure him of Moscow's support, even as the U.S. puts increasing pressure on the Venezuelan leader to leave office.
- The Kremlin said that Putin and Maduro had discussed a strategic partnership agreement and working together on several joint projects related to the economy and energy sector.
- A senior Trump administration official described the move as a “judicial enforcement action on a stateless vessel” last docked in Venezuela.
- Oil prices jumped on the news: Brent crude rose 0.8 percent to $62.35 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate climbed to $58.46.
- Maduro has long accused Washington of seeking to overthrow him and seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves; the nation’s production has fallen from over 2 million barrels a day to roughly 1 million.
- The seizure comes after Trump renewed threats of intervention by land, air, or sea, including a recent U.S. fighter jet flyover near Venezuelan airspace.
- Caracas condemned the action as “international piracy” and “brazen theft,” accusing the U.S. of trying to control its natural resources.
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Dec 12, 2025 at 11:14 AM EST
Where is Venezuela located?
Venezuela is located in the northern part of South America, bordered by Colombia to the west, Brazil to the south, and Guyana to the east, with a long coastline along the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the north; its capital, Caracas, sits near the northern coast.
Dec 12, 2025 at 08:45 AM EST
WATCH: US’s NATO ally seizes cocaine boat in Caribbean bust
Dec 12, 2025 at 08:29 AM EST
Donald Trump says land strikes on Venezuela coming ‘soon’
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. will carry out imminent strikes on Venezuela to intercept alleged narcotics shipments from the country.
"It's going to be starting on land pretty soon," Trump said, without specifying further.
Newsweek has contacted the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry for comment outside office hours.
Trump said on Thursday that the U.S. would soon strike to intercept narcotics shipments going from Venezuela to the United States via land routes.
He said drug trafficking by sea was down, and that "we'll start that on land, too ... pretty soon."
Read in full: Donald Trump Says Land Strikes on Venezuela Coming ‘Soon’
Dec 12, 2025 at 08:15 AM EST
US placed $50 million bounty on Maduro: What to know
The United States placed a $50 million bounty on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in August, doubling the previous reward and intensifying long-standing allegations that he is a major narcotrafficker responsible for helping move fentanyl-laced cocaine into the country. The move builds on Maduro’s 2020 U.S. federal indictment on narcoterrorism and cocaine-importation conspiracy charges—claims he has repeatedly denied. With the new figure, Washington now ranks Maduro among the most sought-after fugitives in its history.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said in a video statement announcing the reward.
U.S. officials say their investigations have tied more than $700 million in assets—and millions of tons of seized cocaine—to Maduro and his network. Announcing the heightened reward, Bondi accused him of collaborating with Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua criminal gang and described him as a national-security threat. Maduro’s office has not responded to the latest allegations.
Dec 12, 2025 at 07:17 AM EST
U.S. Will Intercept More Venezuelan Ships: Report
The U.S. is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil, Reuters has reported, citing six sources familiar with the matter.
After the first interdiction of an oil cargo or tanker from Venezuela, shipowners, operators and maritime agencies transporting Venezuelan crude have been put on high alert and are reconsidering energy exports from the country, according to the agency.
Reuters said that direct interventions are expected in the coming weeks of ships carrying Venezuelan oil that may also have transported the commodity from other countries under U.S. sanctions, such as Iran.
Venezuela's government has called the U.S. seizure on Wednesday a "theft".
Asked whether the Trump administration planned further ship seizures, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters she would reveal future actions.
She told reporters: “we're not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes.”
Dec 12, 2025 at 06:22 AM EST
Venezuela Could Run Out of Oil Revenue ‘in Weeks: Pompeo
Former U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has said that the U.S. should maintain its pressure on Nicolas Maduro, whose government coffers will be hit hard by the crackdown on its oil exports.
Pompeo, who served in the first Trump administration, told the show Sekulow that if the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela was any indication of what's to come, the Maduro regime could run out of the revenue in "weeks not months.”
Pompeo said that “no one wants American adventurism” but the effort of Trump was “consistent with his America first foreign policy.”
“My sense is this is part of turning off the economic capacity of Maduro's regime to stay in power,” said Pompeo.
“So if I'm right on this theory, there will be more seizures, there will be more ships sitting in sea lanes off of Venezuela, trying to deny the revenue that keeps the Maduro regime afloat.”
"The (Maduro) regime probably has enough resources to last, I think, weeks, not months," he added "so taking a million barrels of crude oil from him is a big deal for his economic capacity.”
Dec 12, 2025 at 05:12 AM EST
Donald Trump Warns Of Imminent Land Strikes on Venezuela
As pressure builds on Venezuela, Donald Trump has said the U.S. will carry out imminent strikes on the country to intercept alleged narcotics shipments, saying that such action will be starting “pretty soon.”
Trump had made similar comments at the end of November, in which he boasted of how his campaign had stopped the drug trade by sea, and that this crackdown would extend to the land "very soon."
Speaking on Thursday, Trump said that “they've treated us badly, and I guess now we're not treating them so good” as he added that drug trafficking by sea was "down 92 percent” due to his crackdown but that “we'll start that on land, too."
Dec 12, 2025 at 04:44 AM EST
Maduro’s Nephews On U.S. Sanctions List
More about those U.S. Treasury sanctions announced Thursday, which lists three family members of President Nicolás Maduro.
Franqui Flores, Carlos Flores and Efrain Campo were on the U.S. sanctions list that also included Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero, six firms and six Venezuela-flagged ships accused of transporting Venezuelan oil.
Carretero is accused of facilitating oil shipments for Caracas and having business dealings with the Maduro-Flores family, including partnering in several companies together.
They are denied access to any property or financial assets held in the U.S. and banks and financial institutions that violate that restriction could also be sanctioned or face other punishment.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the Treasury is “holding the regime and its circle of cronies and companies accountable for its continued crimes.”
Dec 12, 2025 at 03:47 AM EST
China opposes ‘long-arm jurisdiction’
China firmly opposes illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that lack a basis in international law and are not authorized by the U.N. Security Council, and opposes the abuse of sanctions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Friday.
Guo was responding to a question at a briefing about the U.S. seizure of the Venezuelan oil tanker and U.S. sanctions on six oil tankers, including one flagged by Hong Kong, China’s Global Times newspaper reported.
China has been a key ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, President Hugo Chavez, and direct and indirect oil shipments to China made up for about 90 percent of the country’s total recent oil exports, according to Reuters.
Dec 12, 2025 at 03:45 AM EST
Colombia says it would consider offering Maduro asylum
Colombia would consider offering Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asylum if he were to request protection, Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio told the Radio Caracol broadcaster.
President Donald Trump has not confirmed any military plan for Venezuela but pressure has been building on Maduro for weeks as the U.S. deploys forces to the Caribbean in support of what it says is its campaign to stop narcotics flowing to the U.S. from Venezuela.
Trump has said he believes Maduro's “days are numbered” and he has spoken of land operations in Venezuela.
Villavicencio said Colombia should not “close the door” to Maduro, the Colombian broadcaster cited the minister as saying on Thursday.
Tensions between the U.S. and Colombia have also escalated in recent weeks with Trump threatening to extend his anti-drug military campaign and warning that Colombian President Gustavo Petro “could be next.”
Dec 12, 2025 at 01:05 AM EST
U.S. to deploy F-35s to Caribbean – report
The U.S. military will deploy F-35s aircraft to the Caribbean in support of Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. campaign which it says is aimed at disrupting narcotics networks, according to the specialist military outlet The War Zone.
A U.S. official told the outlet that the F-35 jets will likely stage through the former Roosevelt Roads U.S. Navy base in Puerto Rico, which has reemerged as a key, upgraded hub for U.S. aviation assets positioning in the region.
Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets and electronic warfare EA-18G Growlers, part of the air wing aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, have been flying patrols near Venezuela, in efforts to monitor its air defenses.
Dec 12, 2025 at 12:22 AM EST
Seizure of tanker shines spotlight on the world’s shadow fleet
The U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast is the most dramatic action against a ship from the world’s so-called shadow fleet of vessels, which smuggle oil and other items for countries facing sanctions, such as Venezuela, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced the seizure as an “act of international piracy.”
“There are hundreds of flagless, stateless tankers that have been a lifeline for revenues, sanctioned oil revenues, for regimes like Maduro’s, Iran and for the Kremlin,” Michelle Weise Bockmann, a senior analyst at Windward, a maritime intelligence firm that tracks such vessels, told the Associated Press (AP).
“They can no longer operate unchallenged.”
Western governments say such shadow fleet ships are crucial to Russia’s ability to bypass international sanctions and finance its military campaign in Ukraine, but they have been operating for years.
“Shadow fleets have been used over the past 15 to 20 years by North Korea and Iran to circumvent UN sanctions, but these fleets have expanded dramatically since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with ageing, opaquely owned tankers deployed to illicitly sustain the export of oil by Russia,” the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank said in a September report.
The ships often cloak their locations by altering their automated identification system - a mandatory safety feature intended to help avoid collisions - to either go entirely dark or to make them appear to be navigating far away across the seas, under a false flag or with the fake registration information of another vessel.
Whether the U.S. seizure of the tanker this week signals the start of a campaign against shadow fleet ships, or is just a one-off, it will have a significant impact on operations, industry experts say.
“The cost of doing business with Venezuela just went way up,” Claire Jungman, director of maritime risk and intelligence at Vortexa, an oil analytics firm, told the AP.
“These are very risk-tolerant operators, but even they don't want to lose a hull. A physical seizure is an entirely different category of risk than falsifying paperwork and bank fines.”
The RUSI said that at the core of the challenge posed by the shadow fleet is the fragmented and permissive global system of ship registration with numerous flag states allowing registration with minimal due diligence, failing to verify ownership or assess the risk of sanctions.
“This lack of regulation has created a structural loophole: a vessel removed for sanctions violations – or other failings – can simply re-register under another state, often within days,” it said.
Diplomatic pressure, enhanced surveillance and national enforcement have yielded results, but such measures remain reactive and uncoordinated, it said.
“Efforts to disrupt the shadow fleet are outpaced by its adaptability.”
Dec 11, 2025 at 11:36 PM EST
White House says ‘shadow fleet’ oil finances ‘narcoterrorism’
White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blar said oil from Venezuela’s “shadow fleet” is financing “narcoterorism” and President Donald Trump has made it clear that he will stop it.
"This is part of what we call the shadow fleet. These are ships that are sanctioned because they have been part of shipping black-market oil around the globe to sell on the black market to finance narcoterrorism,” James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff, told Fox News
“The president has taken a hard stance against narco-terrorism, by far the hardest of any American president in history, and he's made it very clear, he says: You are not going to do narco-terrorism in this country, you’re not going to run drugs in this country, you’re not going to violate U.S. sanctions that are sanctioned by U.S. federal judges, and you are going to pay a price if you do.”
Dec 11, 2025 at 10:06 PM EST
Oil prices firmer on supply worries after tanker seized
Oil prices rose on Friday as the possibility of the U.S. intercepting more Venezuelan oil tankers deepened supply concerns, but they remained on track for a weekly decline amid optimism over a possible Russia-Ukraine peace agreement, Reuters reported.
Brent crude futures rose 29 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $61.57 a barrel by 8.15 p.m., and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $57.91 a barrel, up 31 cents, or 0.5 percent.
"After selling on expectations that supply pressures would ease amid hopes for a Russia-Ukraine peace agreement, buying emerged to pare losses following the U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan tanker," Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist of Nissan Securities Investment, a unit of Nissan Securities, told the news agency.
"Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will remain the main focus next week and beyond," he said.
A possible peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine would likely increase the supply of Russian oil that is currently sanctioned by Western countries.
Venezuela holds some of the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world, most of which is the extra-heavy crude oil from the Orinoco Belt.
Dec 11, 2025 at 09:25 PM EST
Trump says land effort to stop drugs from Venezuela starting soon
President Donald Trump said land operations to stop drugs from Venezuela would be starting soon.
Trump was asked by a reporter in the White House if the campaign against Venezuela was just about drugs or now about oil too.
Trump responded by saying it was “about a lot of things,” including that Venezuela has allowed “millions of people” to come to the US from prisons and gangs and so on.
He then said drug trafficking by sea was down 92 percent, adding: “And nobody can figure out who the 8 percent is, because I have no idea. Anybody getting involved in that right now is not doing well.”
“And we’ll start that on land too, it’s going to be starting on land pretty soon,” the president said.
Dec 11, 2025 at 06:30 PM EST
Senator calls on Congress to block Trump from using taxpayer money for conflict with Venezuela
Senator Chris Van Hollen said that he is calling on Congress to block President Donald Trump and his administration from using taxpayer funds to carry out "armed conflict" with Venezuela.
"As Trump continues to manufacture a cover story for armed conflict with Venezuela, I'm calling on Congress to block him from using taxpayer dollars to launch a regime change war," Van Hollen, a Democrat, said on Wednesday after the U.S. seized a Venezuelan tanker.
Dec 11, 2025 at 06:00 PM EST
Venezuela’s opposition leader welcomes US seizure of tanker
María Corina Machado, the opposition leader in Venezuela, said she supported the United States' seizure of a tanker off the coast of the South American country to cut off the revenue flowing to President Nicolas Maduro's government.
"They use those resources to repress and persecute our people,” she said, adding that she believed President Donald Trump had been "decisive" in weakening Maduro's regime.
“The regime previously thought that they could do anything, anything. They felt they had absolute impunity,” Machado said. “Now, they start to understand that this is serious and the world is really watching.”
Machado, who was forced into hiding in Venezuela, arrived in Oslo, Norway, in the middle of the night on Thursday to collect her Nobel Peace Prize.
She added that she had received support from the U.S. to collect her award in person as the Maduro regime "would have done everything to prevent me from coming. They did not know where I was in hiding in Venezuela, so it was hard for them to stop me.”
Dec 11, 2025 at 05:30 PM EST
What we know about the seized oil from Venezuelan tanker
US officials say the oil aboard the vessel seized on Thursday will be subject to a formal legal process before it can be confiscated. The tanker is believed to be carrying roughly 1.8 million barrels of heavy crude, though about 200,000 barrels were reportedly transferred to another ship shortly before the operation, according to Reuters and data from TankerTrackers.com. With global crude trading at around $61 a barrel, the remaining cargo could be worth more than $95 million, though the exact volume has not been independently verified.
Venezuela holds the largest proven crude reserves in the world, yet years of declining investment, ageing infrastructure, and the weight of U.S. sanctions have crippled production, leaving Caracas struggling to monetize its most valuable resource.
Dec 11, 2025 at 05:05 PM EST
Trump administration says new Venezuelan sanctions are response to Maduro’s ‘brutal control’
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said that the newly announced sanctions on family members of President Nicolás Maduro, along with one of his associates, and several shipping companies, was a result of the Maduro administration's "dictorial and brutal control" of Venezuela.
"Nicolás Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people," Bessent said on social media.
He added that the Treasury was "holding the regime and its circle of cronies and companies accountable for its continued crimes."
Dec 11, 2025 at 04:40 PM EST
World map shows top conflict hot spots in 2026
As the world enters a year marked by political transitions, economic uncertainty, and sharpening geopolitical rivalries, new conflict assessments warn that instability is set to intensify across several key regions. Many of the pressures that defined recent years — fragmented armed groups, stressed governments, and expanding criminal networks — are converging with fresh triggers, from contested elections to shifting regional alliances.
Against this backdrop, ACLED — a global monitoring project that tracks political violence and unrest — identifies the areas most at risk of escalation in 2026. These hotspots reveal how entrenched conflicts, state fragility, and adaptive non-state actors may shape the international security landscape in the months ahead.
From Latin America to the Middle East, ACLED’s 2026 data and analysis, complemented by an interactive map, highlight 10 regions where armed groups, shifting alliances, and ongoing conflicts are poised to reshape security dynamics:
Latin America Confronts Militarization
Across Latin America and the Caribbean, tensions are rising as Venezuela remains a flashpoint, with U.S. threats of intervention threatening to destabilize domestic order and spill over into neighboring states. This broader climate of pressure and uncertainty is prompting governments across the region to expand military roles in policing and deepen security cooperation with foreign partners. Countries such as Bolivia, Chile, Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil are expected to adopt tougher security measures ahead of elections, while militarized “war on crime” policies and heavy-handed enforcement risk escalating violence, empowering state actors to commit abuses, and further eroding civil liberties. These regional dynamics set the stage for localized crises, including in Ecuador, where entrenched gangs and strained state capacity are likely to drive rising insecurity.
Dec 11, 2025 at 04:05 PM EST
US placed $50 million bounty on Maduro: What to know
The United States placed a $50 million bounty on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in August, doubling the previous reward and intensifying long-standing allegations that he is a major narcotrafficker responsible for helping move fentanyl-laced cocaine into the country. The move builds on Maduro’s 2020 U.S. federal indictment on narcoterrorism and cocaine-importation conspiracy charges—claims he has repeatedly denied. With the new figure, Washington now ranks Maduro among the most sought-after fugitives in its history.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said in a video statement announcing the reward.
U.S. officials say their investigations have tied more than $700 million in assets—and millions of tons of seized cocaine—to Maduro and his network. Announcing the heightened reward, Bondi accused him of collaborating with Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua criminal gang and described him as a national-security threat. Maduro’s office has not responded to the latest allegations.
Dec 11, 2025 at 03:35 PM EST
US announces new sanctions on Venezuela after tanker seizure
The United States has announced a series of new sanctions targeting the family of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro just one day after it seized an oil tanker off the coast of the South American country.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on Maduro's wife Cilia Flores' three nephews on Thursday. A Maduro-affiliated businessman and six shipping companies operating in Venezuela’s oil sector have also been hit by the new sanctions.
“Nicolas Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “These sanctions undo the Biden Administration’s failed attempt to make a deal with Maduro, enabling his dictatorial and brutal control at the expense of the Venezuelan and American people. Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury is holding the regime and its circle of cronies and companies accountable for its continued crimes.”
The OFAC also said it has identified six vessels it believes has engaged in deceptive shipping practices, and are helping to provide fuel for Maduro's government.
Dec 11, 2025 at 03:03 PM EST
Homeland Security touts tanker seizure in video soundtracked by LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out
Homeland Security shared its own edited clip of the U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan tanker, which they played to the soundtrack of LL Cool J’s song Mama Said Knock You Out.
LL Cool J has not yet addressed the use of his song.
But the Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly come under fire for using music for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recruitment ads and sensitive posts, without permission of the artists.
Sabrina Carpenter recently spoke out about the use of her song, slamming the DHS video as “evil and disgusting”.
Dec 11, 2025 at 02:40 PM EST
White House refuses to rule out future oil tanker seizures
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked, during her Thursday press conference, whether the U.S. would consider making future seizures after it took control of a Venezuelan tanker on Wednesday.
“We’re not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world," Leavitt reponded.
She added that Wednesday's seizure was lawful and was simply the United States "executing on the president’s sanctions policies." The Trump administration has said the tanker was sanctioned and carrying oil which would have been sold in violation of those sanctions.
Dec 11, 2025 at 02:19 PM EST
U.S. plans to seize the crude oil from Venezuelan tanker
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump's administration “does intend to seize the oil” from the tanker it seized off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday.
“Well, we keep it, I guess,” Trump told reporters Wednesday at the White House, hours after the Skipper was seized.
Now Leavitt has announced that the Justice Department had received a warrant to take the tanker because it was a sanctioned vessel used to carry “black market” oil.
The U.S. team is still investigating and interviewing the people onboard, she said.
It's not clear whether the U.S. would keep the oil for itself or sell the asset.
Dec 11, 2025 at 01:40 PM EST
Venezuela thanks Cuba for support over tanker seizure
Venezuela has offered thanks to Cuba after its President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez condemned the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast on Wednesday.
"On behalf of President Nicolas Maduro and our people I wish to express our sincere gratitude for your strong support and resounding condemnation of the recent assault perpetrated by the United States Armed Forces against an oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea," Venezuela's Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Yvan Gil, said on Telegram.
Dec 11, 2025 at 01:10 PM EST
Cuba ‘strongly condemns’ US seizure of tanker off Venezuela’s coast
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez has denounced the United States' seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday.
"Cuba expresses its full support for the Venezuelan government’s statement of condemnation and strongly condemns the attack on an oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, perpetrated by the United States Armed Forces," he said in a statement, branding the move an "act of piracy."
"This constitutes an act of piracy, a violation of international law and an escalation of aggression against that sister nation," he added.
Dec 11, 2025 at 12:40 PM EST
Noem links Venezuela tanker seizure to administration’s anti-drug campaign
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday that the United States' seizure of an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, was part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on drugs.
Noem claimed that the American government was pushing back on “a regime that is systematically ... flooding our country with deadly drugs.”
President Donald Trump has cited drug smuggling for the military build up on the Caribbean and the deadly strikes on several boats which the administration has claimed were carrying drugs into the U.S.
Dec 11, 2025 at 12:19 PM EST
Iran condemns US seize of oil tanker as act of ‘piracy’
The Iranian embassy, in Venezuela's capital of Caracas, has denounced the United States’ seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, as an act of “piracy in the Caribbean Sea” and a breach of international law.
"The illegal move by the US government to seize a Venezuelan oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea without any justified or legal reason constitutes a blatant violation of international laws and regulations, including the inviolable principle of freedom of the seas and navigation,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
“‘Piracy in the Caribbean Sea' is the most appropriate title for this unlawful and unjustified move by the US, which seeks to achieve its goals by resorting to illegitimate measures, violation of national sovereignty, infringement of others’ rights, and the promotion of anarchism,” it added.
The embassy added that Iran stood with Venezuela's government and the country's right to defend itself.
Venezuela also described the U.S.'s actions as an “international act of piracy.”
Dec 11, 2025 at 11:59 AM EST
WATCH: Moment US seized Venezuelan oil tanker
Dec 11, 2025 at 11:17 AM EST
Putin and Maduro speak after US seizes Venezuelan oil tanker
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by phone on Thursday to reassure him of Moscow's support for his government, shortly after the United States seized a large oil tanker off Venezuela's coast.
Maduro has been under increasing pressure from President Donald Trump's administration to leave office, with the U.S. conducting increasingly large military build-up in the Caribbean. Tensions escalated on Wednesday when the U.S. seized the tanker, sparking furious outcry from Venezuela.
The Kremlin said that Putin and Maduro had discussed a strategic partnership agreement and working together on several joint projects related to the economy and energy sector.
Dec 11, 2025 at 10:50 AM EST
Maduro urges Venezuelans to be prepared to ‘smash in the teeth’ of the US empire
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro urged his citizens to be prepared to "smash in the teeth of the North American empire if necessary” on Wednesday.
Speaking at a rally in Caracas, he urged Venezuelans to “give the US a real beating”.
“In times like these we must be like warriors, with both eyes peeled, working, producing, building, keeping the country functioning. “And be prepared to kick in the teeth of the North American empire, if necessary," he told the crowd.
It's not clear whether Maduro knew of the tanker seizure at the time of his speech. The operation to seize the tanker began at around 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to CBS sources, but the Trump administration did not announce the initiative until much later that afternoon.
Dec 11, 2025 at 10:16 AM EST
Maduro sends message to United States: ‘Enough of these imperial massacres’
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro demanded that the United States end its interventions in his country in a statement on Wednesday.
"Stop the illegal and brutal intervention of the United States in Venezuela and Latin America. Enough of these endless wars, dammit. Enough of these imperial massacres," he said.
"This homeland belongs to the noble, sovereign, and valiant people of Venezuela," he added.
Maduro was commenting shortly before the U.S. seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday evening.
Dec 11, 2025 at 09:39 AM EST
Russia reacts to Trump admin seizing Venezuelan oil tanker
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded that the administration of President Donald Trump provide justification for its seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker this week, as tensions have soared between the U.S. and the South American nation in recent months.
"I really hope that the United States, although they consider themselves entitled to conduct such operations, will somehow explain, out of respect for other members of the world community, what facts led them to take such actions," Lavrov said, Russia's Tass news agency reported on Thursday.
"There is too little information here because I do not know how the United States views the Venezuelan situation, except that President [Donald] Trump has spoken publicly demanding a regime change or voluntary resignation of [Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro], but Chevron is operating in Venezuela, buying Venezuelan oil. What illegal volumes of this type of fuel were on this tanker—we need to get to the bottom of that somehow," the Russian foreign minister said.
Dec 11, 2025 at 09:35 AM EST
Who is Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro?
Nicolás Maduro, born in Caracas in 1962, rose from bus driver and union leader to become Venezuela’s president following the death of Hugo Chávez in 2013.
A loyal figure within the ruling socialist movement, he quickly consolidated power and pledged to continue Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution. Under his leadership, however, Venezuela descended into severe economic crisis, marked by hyperinflation, shortages of essential goods, and a massive exodus of citizens seeking stability abroad. Maduro has maintained a firm grip on the state, relying on the military and party loyalists to bolster his authority.
His presidency has been defined by intense political conflict at home and diplomatic isolation abroad. Elections under his rule—particularly those in 2018 and 2024—have been widely criticized by opposition parties and foreign governments for irregularities and repression.
The 2019 standoff with opposition figure Juan Guaidó, who declared himself interim president, deepened Venezuela’s institutional crisis and prompted sweeping international sanctions. To supporters, Maduro stands as a defender of national sovereignty; to critics, he represents an increasingly authoritarian figure presiding over the country’s decline.
Dec 11, 2025 at 09:04 AM EST
What has Trump said about the Venezuelan tanker?
President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. had seized “a large tanker, very large,” off the Caribbean coast on Wednesday.
When asked what he planned to do with the ship’s oil,. Trump said, “Well, we keep it, I guess.”
The president declined to say who owned the tanker but told reporters, “It was seized for a very good reason."
Dec 11, 2025 at 07:55 AM EST
Cuba Accuses US of ‘Aggressive Escalation’
Cuba, an ally of Venezuela, has condemned the U.S. seizure of the oil tanker.
Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parilla, posted on X that Havana condemned “the vile act of piracy” and the U.S. seizure of a vessel carrying Venezuelan oil.
He described it as contravening the rules of free trade and freedom of navigation and was in open violation of international law.
“We strongly denounce the aggressive escalation of the (US) government against Venezuela,” the post said.
Dec 11, 2025 at 07:14 AM EST
Iran Denounces U.S. ‘piracy in the Caribbean Sea’
Iran has condemned the U.S. seizure of the oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as an act of “piracy.”
In an X post on Thursday, the Iranian embassy in Caracas said that the seizure of the ship was “illegal and unjustified” and an action of “piracy in the Caribbean Sea," according to a translation from Persian.
FBI director Kash Patel had said that the crude oil tanker was used to transport sanctioned oil from both Venezuela and Iran and had been part of an illicit shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.
Iran and its allies Russia and Venezuela are major oil producers and are accused of using a shadow-fleet of vessels to circumvent sanctions on their energy exports.
Dec 11, 2025 at 06:40 AM EST
Nobel Prize winner Maria Corina Machado Responds To U.S. Tanker Seizure
The international community must cut off income sources for the regime of Nicolas Maduro, according to Maria Corina Machado, the opposition figure who has just been awarded the Nobel Peace.
In Oslo to get the award for her fight for democracy, Machado was asked about the U.S. capture of the tanker Skipper off the coast of Venezuela, and whether she would support an American military intervention in the country, which has been the subject of speculation following the U.S. build-up of assets in the Caribbean.
Machado replied that “Venezuela has already been invaded” by agents from Russia and Iran as well as Colombian guerrilla and drug cartels controlling 60 percent of the country.
She said that this had turned Venezuela “into the criminal hub of the Americas” whose regime is sustained by a “very powerful, well-funded system of repression,” funded by trafficking in drugs, arms, people, and an oil black market.
“We need to cut those flows. Once that happens and the repression is weakened, it’s over, because violence and terror are all the regime has left,” she said.
When Machado, 58, won the Nobel Peace Prize in October, she dedicated it in part to Donald Trump, who had repeatedly said he had deserved the honor for his role ending conflicts.
Machado has sided with the Trump administration's position that Maduro has links to criminal gangs that are a direct threat to U.S. national security, although the legality of the strikes on boats allegedly carrying drugs have been questioned by Democrats and some Republicans.
“We ask the international community to cut those sources, because the regimes supporting Maduro and the criminal networks have turned Venezuela into a safe haven for their operations into the rest of Latin America,” added Machado.
Dec 11, 2025 at 05:45 AM EST
Map Shows How U.S. Caught Oil Tanker
The U.S.-sanctioned oil tanker Skipper is believed to be the very large crude carrier seized by the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy on Wednesday, according to commodities data analytics company Kpler.
The supertanker—which was sailing under the flag of Guyana to avoid suspicion— loaded 1.1 million barrels of Merey crude oil at Venezuela’s Jose port on November 14, Kpler said.
Newsweek reviewed imagery captured by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites, which verified the ship’s presence off the Venezuelan coast at a time when the Skipper’s crew had claimed its location was more than 550 miles to the southeast, off Guyana.
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The oil tanker had been falsifying its true location since sailing to the area on November 7, before making its covert oil run. It left Venezuelan waters on or around December 5 and was intercepted by the U.S. some 27 miles southeast of Grenada.
Publicly available ship-tracking data also showed the Skipper sailing from Iran to southern China from late July until early August, presumably to deliver oil. Chinese refiners are the largest buyers of Iranian crude.
“The incident comes amid heightened U.S. military presence in the region, and as Venezuela’s #crude exports dropped to 700 kbd in November,” Kpler said.
“The Skipper has been repeatedly linked to sanction evasion tactics, including spoofing and mislabeled Iranian cargoes routed through Asia, raising alarms about ongoing maritime deception,” it said.
Dec 11, 2025 at 05:25 AM EST
Senator Questions Trump Admin’s Vessel Seizure
The vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia has compared the seizure of the supertanker with the Trump administration’s attacks on boats in the Caribbean allegedly linked to the drug trade.
Warner wrote on X: “So they can seize an oil tanker, but not a drug boat?” in a post that as of Thursday morning, had been viewed over 575,000 times.
Last week, Warner joined fellow Virginia senator Tim Kaine in criticizing the legality and the judgment of the administration’s military actions in the Caribbean, including boat strikes and preparations for a possible land invasion.
The Trump administration has said that U.S. strikes in the Caribbean, which have killed over 80 people, have targeted the drug trade linked to Venezuela, allegations that Caracas has denied.
Dec 11, 2025 at 05:07 AM EST
Over 30 U.S.-sanctioned Vessels at Risk After Seizure
Following the Trump administration's first known action against a Venezuela-related tanker, Reuters reported that a further 30 U.S.-sanctioned vessels doing business in the South American country could face punishment by Washington.
The seized supertanker, identified as the Skipper, is part of a "shadow fleet" of ships that carry sanctioned oil and have been increasingly employed by traders and shippers dealing with Venezuelan oil to avoid Washington’s sanctions, the agency said.
More than 80 vessels loaded or waiting to load oil were in Venezuelan waters or near its coast, including over 30 which faced U.S. sanctions, according to data compiled by TankerTrackers.com, cited by Reuters.
The global shadow fleet mostly transport sanctioned oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela to Asian destinations and includes 1,423 tankers, of which 921 are under U.S., British or European sanctions.
The vessels are usually old, their ownership opaque and sail without adequate insurance, raising concerns about who would cover the costs in the event of an oil spill.
Dec 11, 2025 at 04:43 AM EST
Video Shows U.S. Seizure Of Oil Tanker
Video posted by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi shows the moments when U.S. forces seized a crude oil tanker she said was transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
The clip shows the execution of a warrant which Bondi said had been issued because the oil tanker had been sanctioned by the United States "due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations".
U.S. armed personnel can be seen being lowered by rope onto the vessel's deck in the 45-second clip of the operation. Bondi's statement said that the seizure off the coast of Venezuela, "was conducted safely and securely—and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues."
Dec 11, 2025 at 04:17 AM EST
Venezuela Calls U.S. Seizure Of Boat ‘Piracy’
Venezuela's government has condemned the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast as an "act of international piracy.
The statement was issued after President Donald Trump announced the seizure of the vessel, which appeared to have been heading for Cuba.
It comes amid an escalation of the White House's campaign against President Nicolás Maduro's regime which it accuses of links to the drugs trade, allegations Caracas denies.
"The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces and energetically repudiates what constitutes a brazen theft and an act of international piracy," Venezuela's government said in a statement in Spanish.
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