US seizes another Venezuela-linked tanker

The United States has seized another tanker linked to Venezuela, U.S. officials told Reuters on Thursday, ahead of a meeting between President Donald Trump and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

The seizure is the sixth in recent weeks involving vessels that were either carrying Venezuelan oil or had done so previously. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in the Caribbean.

The U.S. military’s Southern Command confirmed the early-morning operation, saying U.S. forces apprehended the Motor/Tanker Veronica “without incident.” It said the vessel was “operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

“The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” Southern Command said in a statement.

The seizures began as part of Trump’s effort to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, which ended with U.S. forces entering the country and taking Maduro and his wife into custody on January 3.

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Since then, Trump has said the United States plans to control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely as it works to revive the country’s oil industry.

The vessels seized so far were either under U.S. sanctions or part of a so-called shadow fleet—unregulated ships used to move oil from sanctioned producers such as Iran, Russia, and Venezuela while concealing their origins.

Last week, the U.S. seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker after tracking it for more than two weeks across the Atlantic. The vessel was reportedly being followed by a Russian submarine. Moscow condemned the move.

The latest seizure comes ahead of Thursday’s meeting between Trump and Machado, their first face-to-face meeting since the U.S. removed Maduro from power.

Trump has previously described Machado as a “freedom fighter” but has rejected the idea of installing her as Venezuela’s leader, saying she lacks sufficient domestic support.