WATCH: US Forces Capture Oil Tanker Off Coast of Venezuela
The United States seized a sanctioned Venezuelan oil tanker off the country’s coast, President Donald Trump said Wednesday. “We’ve just taken control of a tanker off Venezuela – huge, the largest one ever – and there are other developments unfolding,” said Trump. Watch the vessel being seized, below.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that the government executed a seizure warrant on a tanker traveling from Venezuela and Iran.
“For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,” Bondi wrote on X.
A video accompanying Bondi’s post, shared hours after President Trump’s announcement, showed personnel rappelling from helicopters hovering just above the tanker’s deck before boarding.