US Military Conducts High-Stakes Seizure of Oil Tanker Off Venezuela Coast
A US helicopter flies low over a hazy blue sea as it approaches a massive ship. It hovers as camouflaged soldiers holding rifles swing down ropes to the vessel's deck.
The video, released by the US government, shows the latest in a series of escalations in Washington's pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro's government – the seizure of a crude oil tanker.
The US claims the tanker is used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil has called the seizure international piracy and claims US President Donald Trump wants Venezuela's energy resources.
The operation
We have just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela - a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually, Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
The footage of the operation was shared by Attorney General Pam Bondi on social media. Bondi said a seizure warrant for the tanker was carried out by the US Coast Guard, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Defence.
The exact location of the tanker at the time of the seizure is not clear, but a senior military official told CBS News that the vessel had just left a port in Venezuela.
The 45-second video shows a US team walking the deck of the ship with their weapons drawn. No ship crew are visible.
The seizure involved two helicopters, 10 marines and 10 US Coast Guard members, and special operations forces, a source familiar with the operation told CBS.
The boarding of the vessel involved an elite group of the Coast Guard called the Maritime Security and Response Team, an elite unit trained in counterterrorism and high-risk law enforcement boarding procedures.
The oil tanker
Maritime risk company Vanguard Tech identified the vessel as the Skipper, believed to be part of the dark fleet notorious for smuggling sanctioned goods. The tanker has a history of spoofing its position and was sanctioned by the US in 2022 for its involvement in oil smuggling that funded foreign terrorist organizations.
The tanker reportedly holds about 1.8 million barrels of crude oil, with estimates placing its worth at over $95 million. Maduro has accused the US of using its military presence in the region to seize control of Venezuela's oil resources, a claim the US denies.
The operation symbolizes the ongoing tensions over Venezuela's vast oil reserves, complicated by the country's aging infrastructure and ongoing sanctions.
