The United States on Wednesday seized a large Venezuelan oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump and U.S. officials said, marking a sharp escalation in Washington’s campaign of pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government and underscoring U.S. claims the vessel was part of an illicit network shipping sanctioned oil.
“This morning we’ve just confiscated a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump said at the White House, calling it “very large, the largest one ever seized.” Attorney General Pam Bondi posted a video of the operation on social media and said the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Coast Guard, with Pentagon support, carried out the interception. A senior U.S. official said the seizure took place in international waters and the operation proceeded without casualties.
U.S. officials identified the Venezuelan oil tanker as the Skipper, previously named Adisa, a vessel the Treasury Department sanctioned in 2022 for allegedly helping to move Iranian crude and for ties to an “international oil smuggling network” that the U.S. says has supported Iranian-backed militant groups. Bondi said the tanker had been “used to transport petroleum sanctioned from Venezuela and Iran” and was involved in “a network that supports foreign terrorist organizations.”
The seizure of the Venezuelan oil tanker continues to raise tensions between Caracas and Washington
The seizure comes amid one of the tensest periods in relations between Washington and Caracas. The U.S. has massed a large naval and troop presence in the Caribbean in recent months, launched strikes on vessels it says are narco-boats, and this week flew F-18 fighters into Venezuelan airspace. U.S. officials signaled that further moves against maritime shipments tied to Venezuela could follow as Washington seeks to squeeze the regime’s oil revenues.
Analysts and investigators say the Skipper’s voyage records and satellite imagery indicate the vessel tried to conceal its true whereabouts. A New York Times analysis of satellite photos and tracking data found that while the ship’s Automatic Identification System transponder broadcast locations off Guyana and Suriname, satellite images and on-the-ground photographs showed the Skipper docked at Venezuela’s Jose oil terminal and loading crude. TankerTrackers.com estimated the vessel had taken on roughly 1.8 to 1.9 million barrels of heavy oil.
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. For multiple… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) December 10, 2025
“The vessel’s broadcasted location at times placed it hundreds of miles away from where imagery shows it actually was,” the Times reported. Specialists say ships sometimes “spoof” AIS signals, transmitting false coordinates from their own transponder, to hide suspect loading or ship-to-ship transfers. Shipping data also show the Skipper has made repeated trips to Iran and Venezuela and carried millions of barrels of sanctioned oil since joining what observers call the global “dark fleet” of tankers that obscure their movements.
The seized tanker has transported nearly 13 million barrels of Iranian and Venezuelan oil since 2021
TankerTrackers.com co-founder Samir Madani said the Skipper has transported nearly 13 million barrels of Iranian and Venezuelan oil since 2021 and previously delivered Iranian cargo to Syria. U.S. officials say that history, along with the vessel’s sanctioned status, provided grounds for the seizure.
In Washington, officials declined to spell out immediate plans for the seized crude. Asked what would happen to the oil, Trump said, “We keep it, I guess.” A senior U.S. official said the tanker had been bound for Cuba but was ultimately destined for Asia after being brokered through Cuban sellers, and warned additional seizures were possible as the administration raises pressure on Caracas.
Caracas denounced the operation as an act of theft and “international piracy.” In a statement, the Venezuelan government called the seizure “a robbery” and accused the United States of revealing the true motive behind its military presence in the Caribbean, seizing Venezuela’s natural resources.
Venezuela said it would appeal to international bodies and accused Washington of trying to strip the country of revenues that belong “exclusively to the Venezuelan people.”
As they face energy shortages, Cuba criticized the seizure by the US
Cuba, identified by U.S. officials as the tanker’s intended next port, also criticized the move. The island nation’s foreign minister called the seizure an “aggressive escalation” as Cuba faces critical energy shortages and relies on deliveries from allied partners.
The action is the latest and most dramatic step in a months-long U.S. campaign that has included carrier-strike group deployments and strikes on small vessels, the White House says, carrying drugs and funding criminal networks. Critics at home and abroad have questioned the legality and oversight of recent U.S. maritime strikes, and Venezuelan leaders and some analysts warn that targeting the country’s oil fleet risks further destabilizing the region.
The Skipper’s history of sanctions, and the showing of what officials say is deliberate falsification of its tracking data, give Washington a broadly public rationale for the interception, but the move is likely to deepen a confrontation that U.S. officials say aims to undercut funding for the Maduro government. Caracas, which has repeatedly called U.S. operations a cover for regime-change efforts, said the seizure confirms its argument that Washington’s real objective is control of Venezuelan oil.
Related: Colombia Doesn’t Rule Out Granting Asylum to Maduro if He Steps Down in Venezuela.