US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that America has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
“We have just seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, the largest tanker ever seized,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump said the tanker was seized “for a very good reason.”
The US President said that “other things are happening too”, without giving any additional details. When reporters asked Trump what would happen with the oil, he responded: “I think we keep it.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted a video to the Times showing US troops boarding a tanker. The video could not be independently verified.
The seizure of the ship marks the latest tensions between Washington and Maduro
The announcement reflects the latest tensions between the Trump administration and the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and comes as opposition leader Maria Corina Machado left the country for Oslo, where she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this week.
In an interview with US news outlet Politico earlier this week, Trump ruled out a US ground invasion against Venezuela, saying Maduro’s “days are numbered”.
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves
The seizure of the oil tanker comes just weeks after the Trump administration dramatically increased the US presence in the Caribbean near Venezuelan waters and launched attacks on alleged drug smuggling boats coming from Venezuela.
America operates the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford is assembling a fleet of warships.
Anonymous US officials said the seizure of the tanker was led by the US Coast Guard and supported by the Navy.
new York Times And CBS News identified the tanker as a ship named Skipper. new York Times Officials spoken to said the ship was carrying Venezuelan oil from state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
But it is not yet clear which country’s flag was flying on the ship.
The South American nation has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels of oil per day.
But U.S. sanctions on its oil industry have locked Venezuela out of global oil markets, leaving it selling most of its production at deep discounts to refiners in China.
Maduro urges Trump to ‘focus on his country’
But despite tensions with the US, Venezuela managed to increase oil exports this year. Until now, Washington had not interfered in the country’s oil flows, focusing on the country’s ties with drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, Maduro has criticized Trump’s actions in the Caribbean, and accused the US of plotting regime change and trying to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves.
“From Venezuela, we demand an end to the illegal and brutal intervention of the United States government in Venezuela and Latin America,” Maduro told supporters in Caracas in response to news of the ship’s seizure.
Maduro said, “We say no to interventionism, no to destabilizing plans for regime change. Let the US government focus on governing our country.”
Edited by: Sean Sinico and Roshni Majumdar