The Trump administration is set to continue seizing oil tankers off the Venezuelan coast and has assembled a list of targets to carry out the policy, according to a new report.
Reuters noted that the Justice Department and the Department of the Homeland Security had been planning seizures for months. It added that the tankers targeted are the so-called shadow fleet that mostly take oil to China.
Future seizures depend on how quickly ports can take the ships, one source told Reuters. Many tankers are old and they sail without top-tier insurance coverage, which could make ports reluctant to receive them.
The Maduro regime has accused the U.S. of committing an act of "international piracy" after the first seizure. In a statement released by the Foreign Ministry, Caracas condemned what it called "a blatant robbery" following President Donald Trump's announcement earlier in the day that U.S. personnel had intercepted a "very large" tanker off Venezuela.
"The president of the United States confessed to the assault of an oil tanker," the statement said, calling the seizure "a criminal act" and alleging it revealed Washington's true objectives. "It was never about migration, narcotrafficking, democracy, or human rights. It was always about our natural resources, our oil, our energy," the government wrote.
U.S. officials identified the vessel as the Skipper, a Guyana-flagged tanker loaded with 1.1 million barrels of crude. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the ship had been "used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran" and was part of "an illicit network supporting foreign terrorist organizations," citing investigations by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard. Bondi said the operation was carried out "safely and securely" with Pentagon support.
The statement added that the regime would pursue all available international avenues to contest what it called an "unprecedented illegal aggression."
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