Overview
- The Homeland Security secretary said two sanctioned oil tankers tied to Venezuela were seized in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean on Jan. 7.
- U.S. authorities had tracked at least one vessel from Venezuelan waters since December before it was renamed and reflagged as Russian, and reports say Moscow asked the U.S. to stop the tracking.
- President Trump posted that Venezuela’s interim government will hand over 30–50 million barrels of sanctioned crude to the United States, with sale proceeds managed by him.
- Trump said he instructed Energy Secretary Wright to implement the transfer plan immediately.
- The seizures follow Trump’s December order for a full blockade of tankers to and from Venezuela, as ABC News reports Washington is conditioning oil output on Rodríguez distancing the country from Russia, China, Cuba and Iran and prioritizing U.S. sales.