Arya News - The United States has seized a tanker near the coast of Venezuela as the vessel was suspected of shipping sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump confirmed that the United States had captured an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, noting that it is the largest tanker ever seized and adding that some "other things are happening." "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," Bondi wrote on X. "For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely—and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues," she added.Venezuela accused the United States of committing an act of "international piracy" and called on the international community to condemn the seizure of its oil tanker by the US military, the country’s foreign ministry said."The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela strongly denounces and condemns what constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy … Venezuela calls on all Venezuelans to stand firm in defense of the homeland and urges the international community to reject this vandalistic, illegal, and unprecedented aggression that seeks to normalize itself as a tool of pressure and plunder," the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.Caracas noted that the US President publicly admitted to attacking a Venezuelan tanker in the Caribbean Sea, and called the move part of a long-term strategy to plunder the South American country"s resources.The Venezuelan government reaffirmed that "it will appeal to all existing international institutions to denounce this serious international crime and will defend its sovereignty, natural resources, and national dignity with absolute determination," the statement added.