U.S. forces seized an oil tanker near the Venezuelan coastline Wednesday, President Donald Trump said, a significant escalation in the U.S. pressure campaign against President Nicolás Maduro and his country’s oil-dependent economy.
“As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump told a roundtable meeting of business leaders Wednesday afternoon. He described the vessel as “very large” and the “largest one ever seized, actually.”
“And, other things are happening,” Trump added. “So you’ll be seeing that later, and you’ll be talking about that later with some other people.”
Trump did not provide further details about the seizure, the tanker, its owner or where it was headed.
“Depending on what legal justification they used to seize the vessel, it could create a lot of problems for the regime,” a person familiar with the seizure said. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details, said the seizure could have a “big financial impact.”
The seizure adds a new tactic to the Trump administration’s months-long military campaign in waters near Venezuela. Since September, U.S. forces have launched strikes against more than 20 boats it alleges were carrying drugs to the United States, killing at least 87 people, while massing troops, warships and aircraft in the region. Trump this week told Politico that Maduro’s “days are numbered” and declined to rule out sending U.S. troops into Venezuela.
Venezuela’s oil exports rose this year to a daily average of about 900,000 barrels, Reuters has reported. Its largest importers are China and the United States, particularly after the Trump administration in July reissued a license to the U.S. energy giant Chevron to resume operations in Venezuela.
The seizure of the oil tanker was announced hours after opposition leader María Corina Machado missed the Oslo ceremony to collect her Noble Peace Prize. Machado has been in hiding in Venezuela since January and barred by the government from leaving the country. Her daughter, accepting the honor in her place, said she would appear in Oslo soon.
Machado has dedicated the prize in part to Trump “for his decisive support of our cause.”
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