{"id":187541,"date":"2025-12-12T07:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T07:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/187541\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T07:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T07:38:08","slug":"us-preparing-to-intercept-more-venezuelan-ships-say-sources-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/187541\/","title":{"rendered":"US preparing to intercept more Venezuelan ships, say sources \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US is preparing \u200bto intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan<\/a> oil following the seizure of a tanker this week, as it increases pressure on \u200dVenezuelan president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>, six sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The seizure was the first interdiction of an oil \u200dcargo or tanker from Venezuela, which has been under US sanctions since 2019. <\/p>\n

The incident came as the US executes a large-scale military build-up in the southern Caribbean and as US president Donald Trump campaigns for Mr Maduro to be overthrown.<\/p>\n

The seizure has put \u200cshipowners, operators and maritime agencies involved in transporting Venezuelan crude on alert, with many reconsidering whether to sail from Venezuelan waters \u2060in the coming days as planned, shipping sources said.<\/p>\n

Further direct interventions by the US are \u200cexpected \u200bin \u200dthe coming weeks targeting ships carrying Venezuelan oil that may also have transported oil from other countries targeted by US sanctions, such as Iran, according to the sources familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

\"VenezuelanVenezuelan president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro waves to a crowd during a rally in Caracas on Wednesday. Photograph: Alejandro Cegarra\/New York Times<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s state oil company PDVSA did not reply to \u2060a request for comment. Venezuela\u2019s government this week \u2060said the US seizure constituted a \u201ctheft\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the Trump administration planned further ship seizures, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters she would not speak about future actions but said the US would continue executing the president\u2019s sanctions policies. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The US has assembled a target list \u200dof several more sanctioned tankers for possible seizure, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

A reduction or halt in Venezuelan oil exports, the main generator of revenue for the Venezuelan government, would strain the Maduro government\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Nobel Peace Prize winner urges world to cut flow of money to Venezuela\u2019s repressive regimeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The new US approach focuses on the activities of what is called the shadow fleet of tankers that \u200ctransports sanctioned oil to China, the \u200clargest buyer of crude from Venezuela and Iran. A single vessel will often make separate runs on behalf of Iran, Venezuela and Russia, the sources added.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Russia and its close ally Belarus contacted Mr Maduro on Thursday, raising the possibility he could seek refuge abroad. <\/p>\n

Mr Maduro told Mr Trump in a telephone call on November 21st that he was ready to leave Venezuela, provided that he and his family had full legal amnesty, sources have told Reuters.<\/p>\n

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday held his second meeting \u200cin 17 days with Jes\u00fas Rafael Salazar Vel\u00e1squez, the Venezuelan ambassador to Moscow.<\/p>\n

According to Belarusian state news agency Belta, Mr Lukashenko told the envoy on November 25th that Mr Maduro \u2060was always welcome in Belarus and it was time for him to pay a visit.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Nobel Peace Prize winner\u2019s daughter accepts award on her behalfOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Belta quoted Mr Lukashenko \u200cas \u200breminding Mr Vel\u00e1squez \u200dthey had agreed at the first meeting to \u201cco-ordinate certain matters\u201d with Mr Maduro.<\/p>\n

Reuters \u2060requested comment from Mr Lukashenko\u2019s office on the significance of the meetings and whether Belarus would be willing to offer sanctuary to Mr Maduro \u2060if he stepped down. It did not respond.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin \u2060said Russian president Vladimir Putin, in a phone call to the Venezuelan leader on Thursday, \u201creaffirmed his support for the policy of Maduro\u2019s government, aimed at protecting national interests and sovereignty in the face of growing external \u200dpressure\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has said it does not recognise Mr Maduro, in power since 2013, as Venezuela\u2019s legitimate president. He claimed to have won re-election last year in a vote dismissed as a sham by the US and other western governments. Independent observers said the opposition had won overwhelmingly. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Denis Staunton’s Global Briefing: Tensions in Tanzania as president calls off Independence Day weeks after election winOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US is preparing \u200bto intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil following the seizure of a tanker this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,43,92550,40,38,41,39,92549],"class_list":{"0":"post-187541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-nicolas-maduro","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-venezuela"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}