U.S. Military Seizes Oil Tanker Off Venezuela, Escalating Tensions

Thu Dec 11 2025 08:45:56 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The U.S. has conducted a military operation seizing a large oil tanker near Venezuela's coast, raising tensions with President Maduro's government and sparking accusations of international piracy.

In a significant escalation of pressure on the Venezuelan government, U.S. forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. President Trump claimed the tanker was the largest ever seized and was involved in transporting sanctioned oil. The act has been condemned by Caracas as a blatant act of piracy. The seizure reflects ongoing disputes over oil resources amid heightened military presence in the region, raising fears of further conflict.

US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, marking a sharp escalation in Washington's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro's government.

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.

Releasing a video of the seizure, Attorney General Pam Bondi described the vessel as a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.

Caracas swiftly denounced the action, calling it an act of international piracy. Earlier, President Maduro declared that Venezuela would never become an oil colony.

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The Venezuelan government issued a statement denouncing the seizure as a grave international crime. It stated that the prolonged aggression against Venezuela has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people.

Speaking at a rally earlier on Wednesday, Maduro had a message for Americans opposed to war with Venezuela. It came in the form of a 1988 hit song.

To American citizens who are against the war, I respond with a very famous song: Don't worry, be happy, Maduro said in Spanish before singing along to the lyrics of the 1988 hit.

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