U.S. Seizes Supertanker Near Venezuela and Sends It Toward Houston as Sanctions Tighten

Overview

• The Skipper was boarded under a U.S. court warrant by the Coast Guard with support from DHS, the FBI and the Pentagon, and is being escorted to waters off Houston for a legal bid to confiscate its crude cargo.
• U.S. officials say the tanker carried sanctioned Venezuelan and Iranian oil; Guyana’s maritime authority says the ship flew its flag without authorization, and the vessel had been sanctioned in 2022 over links to Iranian networks.
• Treasury announced new penalties on three relatives of Nicolás Maduro and on shipping firms and vessels tied to Venezuela’s oil flows, as the White House signaled additional interdictions could follow.
• Maduro condemned the seizure as piracy, Putin expressed support for Caracas, Brazil’s Lula urged Trump to avoid war after speaking with both leaders, and Cuba warned of a direct hit to its already strained fuel supplies.
• Legal experts questioned the operation’s basis under international law, the administration framed it as counter-narcotics, and Trump said land operations in Venezuela would begin soon despite no reports of drugs on the Skipper.