The U.S. stormed a Venezuelan oil tanker on Thursday, marking a dramatic escalation in the ongoing conflict between the nations.
Venezuela and the U.S. have fought for months, with the Trump administration launching strikes against drug boats from the South American country.
President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth have stressed that the strikes are needed to protect Americans.
During the latest Cabinet meeting at the White House, the president was asked how he felt about the U.S. strikes.
“Every boat we knock out of the water, every boat we save 25,000 American lives,” Trump replied.
The Trump administration has faced blistering criticism from Democrats over its conflict strategies against Venezuela, given that the president ran on a peace platform in the 2024 presidential election.
Nonetheless, Trump continues his administration’s fierce campaign against the authoritarian regime of Venezuela, with the latest move being an American seizure of an oil tanker, as the Daily Mail reported.
Footage of the event went viral on social media.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that the tanker was used to transport oil from Venezuela to Iran, which is an adversary of the U.S.
“Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
“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,” she added.
FBI Director Kash Patel echoed Bondi’s remarks, claiming that the Venezuelan ship was used to empower terror networks in the world.
“Today the @FBI and our partners executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela – used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. The tanker has been used in recent years in an illicit shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. Proud of our great partners who executed the mission with us,” Patel said, before tagging multiple agencies in his X post.
“This administration’s efforts to crush FTO’s and cut off their resources will continue day and night,” he concluded.
The U.S.’s latest move against Venezuela marks a dramatic escalation in the conflict between the two nations. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is reportedly in angst and has pleaded for peace with America.
The Venezuelan government reacted to the U.S. seizure on Thursday, calling it “a brazen robbery.”
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces and energetically repudiates what constitutes a brazen robbery and an act of international piracy, publicly announced by the President of the United States, who confessed to the seizure of an oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea,” the government said in a statement.
