{"id":362608,"date":"2025-12-21T22:36:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T22:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/362608\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T22:36:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T22:36:12","slug":"us-in-active-pursuit-of-third-oil-tanker-off-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/362608\/","title":{"rendered":"US in \u2018active pursuit\u2019 of third oil tanker off Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States is in \u201cactive pursuit\u201d of a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela after President Trump ordered a complete blockade of \u201call sanctioned oil tankers\u201d moving in and out of the country.<\/p>\n

The third vessel, which was being tracked in international waters, was part of Venezuela\u2019s dark fleet, used to help evade sanctions, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

Earlier reports suggested the US had seized the tanker on Sunday, however, an official later clarified with the news agency that American forces were \u201cin active pursuit\u201d of the ship, adding: \u201cIt is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the US seized a separate oil tanker, with Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, saying that the US coast guard had \u201capprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela\u201d in a pre-dawn raid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The second vessel, named Centuries, was not believed to be subject to US sanctions and was not mentioned on a sanctions list publicly maintained by the Treasury Department. <\/p>\n

Cargo on the Panamanian-flagged tanker belonged to an established Chinese-based oil trader that is well known for transporting Venezuelan crude oil<\/a> to Chinese refineries, The New York Times reported. <\/p>\n

One of the US officials said the third tanker was under sanctions. <\/p>\n

International law states that a ship may be boarded if there is reasonable ground to suggest it is not legitimately registered to the state whose flag it is flying. <\/p>\n

The Venezuelan government said the \u201ctheft and hijacking of a new private vessel transporting oil, as well as the forced disappearance of its crew\u201d would \u201cnot go unpunished\u201d. <\/p>\n

Caracas pledged to report the incident to the United Nations Security Council.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sign up for The Times\u2019s weekly US newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

The seizing of the vessels if part of a widely perceived attempt by the Trump administration to put a stranglehold on Venezuela\u2019s economy and authoritarian regime, and ultimately remove President Maduro from power. <\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Trump salutes the coffin of a US soldier killed in Syria last weekend<\/p>\n

JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON\/AP PHOTO<\/p>\n

Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, has told Vanity Fair that Trump \u201cwants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle [admits defeat]\u201d.<\/p>\n

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil\u2019s president, said on Saturday that an \u201carmed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe\u201d.<\/p>\n

This month US forces seized the Skipper, which was flying under a false flag and was under US sanctions for having carried Iranian oil.<\/p>\n

\"Satellite<\/p>\n

The Skipper was the first oil tanker to be seized by US forces last week, with knock-on effects for the Venezuelan economy<\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

The White House\u2019s deputy press secretary Anna Kelly claimed that the Centuries was a similarly \u201cfalsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil\u201d and that the oil it was carrying was sanctioned.<\/p>\n

However, various maritime experts have contested this claim, including Dr Salvatore Mercogliano, who said it was operating legally. \u201cEverything indicates that she is a properly registered vessel,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Up to a quarter of the Venezuelan economy depends on oil and is already facing mounting issues as the stand-off with the US drags on.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US fighters jets sit on the tarmac at Jos\u00e9 Aponte de la Torre airport in Puerto Rico,<\/p>\n

MIGUEL J RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Venezuela began struggling with a drop in oil tanker movements to and from its shores after the Skipper was seized. Its storage capacity is days away from filling up, according to Bloomberg, meaning the country may soon have to begin closing some of its oil wells.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Oil prices rise after Trump steps up blockade of Venezuela<\/a><\/p>\n

Maduro has ordered that some vessels carrying Venezuelan oil be escorted by the navy. It is not clear if this was the case with Centuries.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Russia warned Trump not to make \u201ca fatal mistake\u201d on Venezuela. President Sheinbaum of Mexico called on the UN \u201cto prevent any bloodshed and seek peaceful \u00adsolutions to conflicts\u201d.<\/p>\n

Previously Trump has focused primarily on drug trafficking to defend his military and financial pressure. Announcing the blockade<\/a>, he justified it by saying Maduro had taken US assets, demanding that Caracas \u201creturn to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Trump has already ordered the largest naval deployment in the Caribbean for 30 years. His administration also oversees strikes on smaller boats carrying alleged \u201cnarcoterrorists\u201d, a campaign which has so far targeted at least 28 boats and killed 104 people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States is in \u201cactive pursuit\u201d of a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-362608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}