The United States seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said Wednesday, amid escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas.
“We just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a big oil tanker, a very big one—the largest ever seized, in fact,” Trump told reporters.
“And there are other things happening, you’ll see them later,” he added, at the start of a roundtable discussion with business leaders and senior officials.
The move comes amid a massive US military deployment in the region, which includes an aircraft carrier, fighter jets, and tens of thousands of troops.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation was led by the US Coast Guard. They did not identify the tanker or specify where the interception took place.
The Coast Guard referred the questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Venezuelan government also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. State oil company PDVSA declined to comment on the matter.
Venezuela exported more than 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil last month, the third-highest monthly average so far this year, as state-owned PDVSA imported more naphtha to dilute its extra-heavy crude production.
