by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

(Worthy News) – The United States has seized another crude oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking the second such operation in less than two weeks as President Donald Trump intensifies pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his government.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Saturday that the U.S. Coast Guard, operating with support from the Pentagon, stopped and boarded the tanker during a pre-dawn operation. Noem shared an unclassified video on social media showing U.S. personnel fast-roping from a helicopter onto the vessel, identified as the Centuries.

“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” Noem wrote on X, adding, “We will find you, and we will stop you.” She did not provide specific evidence linking the tanker’s cargo to narcoterrorism financing.

According to vessel-tracking service MarineTraffic, the crude oil tanker was flying under the flag of Panama and had recently been operating off Venezuela’s coast. U.S. officials said the operation was a “consented boarding,” with the ship stopping voluntarily and allowing American forces to come aboard. It remains unclear whether the tanker was formally under U.S. sanctions at the time of the seizure.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the interdiction was part of OPERATION SOUTHERN SPEAR, vowing that the United States would “unflinchingly conduct maritime interdiction operations” to dismantle illicit criminal networks across the Western Hemisphere.

Legal experts note that the seizure represents a further escalation in Washington’s approach. Jeremy Paner, a partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, told Reuters that the tanker had not been previously sanctioned, suggesting the move signals an expansion of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Caracas beyond vessels already blacklisted.

The seizure follows Trump’s recent announcement of a “blockade” targeting sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. Earlier this month, U.S. forces seized another vessel, the Skipper, which was carrying nearly two million barrels of Venezuelan crude. Trump has argued that Venezuela illegally seized U.S. oil assets in past years and has justified the blockade as both a national security and economic response.

Venezuela’s government sharply condemned the latest action, accusing Washington of “theft and hijacking” of a private vessel transporting Venezuelan oil. In an official statement, Caracas described the seizure as a “grave act of international piracy” and warned that the move “will not go unpunished,” including the possibility of filing a complaint before the United Nations Security Council.

The escalation has drawn mixed reactions across Latin America. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warned that a U.S. military confrontation with Venezuela could spark a humanitarian catastrophe and reopen historical wounds linked to Cold War-era interventions. Argentina’s President Javier Milei, by contrast, welcomed Washington’s hardline stance, saying the time for a timid approach toward Maduro’s government had passed.

Behind the tanker seizures is a new legal strategy under the Trump administration aimed at disrupting the global black market oil trade. Justice Department officials say the effort targets so-called “ghost fleets” used to transport sanctioned crude to countries including Cuba, Iran, Russia, and China. The operations are being driven in part by the Threat Finance Unit within the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which has dramatically increased the pace of seizure warrants this year.

Analysts warn the growing campaign could significantly reduce Venezuela’s oil exports, which provide a critical source of revenue for Maduro’s government. Roughly 70 percent of Venezuela’s oil shipments rely on a network of sanctioned or shadow vessels now increasingly under U.S. scrutiny.

Trump has repeatedly said the United States intends to keep both the seized oil and the ships, boasting of a massive naval buildup in the region. While the Coast Guard has taken the lead, officials stress the operations are being conducted as law enforcement actions rather than a formal military blockade.

The moves strike at the core of Maduro’s hold on power, as oil revenue remains the lifeline of Venezuela’s embattled economy. As U.S. seizures expand and diplomatic tensions rise, the standoff is deepening into one of the most aggressive U.S.-Venezuela confrontations in decades.

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