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21st December 2025
04:21pm GMT
The US Department of Homeland Security has revealed that the US has seized an oil tanker that had previously departed from Venezuela.
This is the second time this month that an oil-carrying ship has been seized off the coast of Venezuela.
It follows an announcement President Donald Trump made on Tuesday, in which he ordered a "blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
Venezuela has described Trump's latest move as "theft and kidnapping". It has previously also accused the Trump administration of attempting to seize its resources.
"These acts will not go unpunished," the Venezuelan government said in a statement, adding that it will also file a complaint with the UN Security Council and "other multilateral agencies and the governments of the world."
Similar to the operation earlier this month, the latest seizure was led by the US Coast Guard.
The ship was boarded by a specialised tactical team while it was in international waters.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees the Coast Guard, shared a seven-minute video of the operation on X.
The footage shows US helicopters landing on the deck of a ship with the name Centuries written on the side.
The vessel is currently flagged in Panama, but over the past five years, it has also operated under the flags of Greece and Liberia, according to records reviewed by BBC Verify.
The vessel is not included on the US Treasury’s sanctioned vessels list.
In recent weeks, the US has increased its military presence in the Caribbean Sea and carried out deadly strikes on boats allegedly involved in Venezuelan drug smuggling, resulting in about 100 deaths.
No public evidence has been provided to show the vessels were carrying drugs, and the strikes have drawn growing scrutiny from Congress.
The Trump administration has accused President Nicolás Maduro of leading a designated terrorist group called the Cartel de los Soles, a claim he has since denied.
Trump further accuses Maduro's government of using "stolen" oil to "finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping," per the BBC.
Following the most recent seizure, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the US would continue to "unflinchingly conduct maritime interdiction operations... to dismantle illicit criminal networks."
"Violence, drugs, and chaos will not control the Western Hemisphere," he wrote.
Venezuela is home to the world's largest proven oil reserves and is therefore highly dependent on revenues from its oil exports to finance its government spending.
Trump announced the blockade less than a week after the US seized an oil tanker believed to be part of a so-called “ghost fleet” off Venezuela’s coast, which allegedly employed various methods to conceal its activities.
