Overview
- Coast Guard, FBI and Homeland Security agents, with military support, boarded the vessel by helicopter in a filmed operation authorized under a seizure warrant.
- The ship is widely reported to be the VLCC Skipper, a previously sanctioned tanker tied to covert transfers of Iranian and Venezuelan crude.
- Tracking data indicate the cargo included roughly 1.8 million barrels of Merey crude loaded at José, with about 200,000 barrels offloaded near Curaçao to a ship bound for Cuba while the Skipper falsely flew Guyana’s flag.
- Treasury announced new penalties on six shipping companies and six vessels involved in deceptive practices, and the White House declined to rule out seizing additional sanctioned ships.
- Caracas denounced “international piracy” as the U.N. urged restraint, while a large U.S. naval deployment and more than 20 lethal strikes on suspected drug boats have drawn mounting legal and political scrutiny.