A day after detaining a tanker off the coast of Venezuela, the United States has slapped further sanctions on six other ships allegedly transporting Venezuelan oil.
US Escalates Pressure on Venezuela
Additionally, some of Nicolás Maduro’s family members and companies connected to what Washington refers to be his illegitimate dictatorship in Venezuela have been subject to sanctions.
Reporters were informed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that the captured ship, known as the Skipper, had engaged in “illicit oil transportation” and would be sent to an American port. “International piracy” is how Caracas has characterized it.
It represents a dramatic intensification of the US pressure campaign against Maduro, which has resulted in the deaths of dozens in attacks on vessels suspected of transporting narcotics from Venezuela. American warships have started entering the area in recent months.
US-Venezuela Tensions Intensify
Venezuela is allegedly smuggling drugs into the United States, according to the Trump administration. Venezuela, which has some of the biggest known oil reserves in the world, has responded by accusing Washington of trying to take its resources. On Wednesday, Maduro pledged that Venezuela will never turn into a “oil colony.”
However, the US was dedicated to both “stopping the flow of illicit substances” entering the nation and imposing sanctions, the White House press secretary said reporters on Thursday.
When asked whether the US intended to take further ships carrying Venezuelan oil, she declined to comment.
Leavitt said, “We are not going to see sanctioned boats cruise the seas with black market oil, the revenues of which would finance narco-terrorism of rogue and illegitimate governments across the globe.”
US Targets Maduro Network
After completing the required legal procedures, she said, the US intended to seize the oil on board the Skipper.
Leavitt said that the news that Russian President Vladimir Putin had contacted Maduro earlier in the day to give Moscow’s assistance “in the face of rising foreign pressure” would not “at all” worry Trump.
Later, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that sanctions on Maduro’s wife’s three nephews as well as many companies and ships will address the leader’s “dictatorial and ruthless authority.”
He said that the Trump administration was “holding the government and its circle of friends and corporations responsible for its continuous crimes” in a post on X.
Dramatic video footage of the attack, which showed camouflaged troops landing on the Skipper from a helicopter and moving over its deck with their guns drawn, was made public by the White House on Wednesday.
Venezuela Condemns US Actions
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello called the United States “murderers, robbers, pirates” as the Venezuelan government vehemently condemned the tanker’s seizure. The US has “started conflicts all across the globe” in this manner, he said.
According to CBS, the US Treasury Department sanctioned the Skipper ship in 2022 for allegedly participating in oil smuggling that brought in money for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and Hezbollah.
In the days before the attack, the US had increased its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, which borders Venezuela to the north.
The biggest aircraft carrier in the world, the USS Gerald Ford, with thousands of soldiers stationed within striking distance of Venezuela.
