by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News December 21, 2025
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said a Venezuelan oil tanker was seized by U.S. forces in a “lightning strike operation” carried out Saturday morning.
In a post to X, DHS said the Motor Tanker Centuries, “which is suspected of carrying oil subject to U.S. sanctions,” was seized in an operation led by the U.S. Coast Guard.
“It was a falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil and fund the narcoterrorist Maduro regime,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, adding that the tanker contained sanctioned oil from PDVSA, a Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company.
It was the second such seizure carried out by U.S. forces.
Last week, the U.S. interdicted a large, sanctioned oil tanker known as the Skipper off the coast of Venezuela. The vessel, previously identified by the Treasury Department as the Adisa, is an oil tanker tied to a sanctions-evading smuggling network that U.S. officials say moved Iranian oil to generate revenue for Hizbullah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, both U.S. designated terrorist organizations.
“In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela. The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a post to X. “We will find you, and we will stop you.”
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump ordered a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers coming and going from Venezuela, increasing pressure on socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Noem called last week’s operation a successful one that was carried out “to ensure that we’re pushing back on a regime that is systematically covering and flooding our country with deadly drugs and killing our next generation of Americans.”
After last week’s operation, the Trump Administration sanctioned six more ships believed to be carrying Venezuelan oil.
Support Free Press Foundation
U.S. seizes second oil tanker off coast of Venezuela added by Editor Two on
View all posts by Editor Two →