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The Biden administration’s seizure of an oil tanker tied to sanctioned Iranian and Venezuelan networks drew swift condemnation from Caracas on Thursday, even as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the operation as a necessary step to disrupt illicit oil shipments supporting foreign militant groups.
Noem said the Coast Guard–led boarding was conducted in coordination with the Departments of Defense and Justice and the FBI. “It was a successful operation directed by the president 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,” she told reporters.
President Donald Trump first revealed the seizure Wednesday, describing the ship as “the largest one ever seized actually,” though he offered few details and appeared uncertain about the disposition of its cargo. “We keep it, I guess. I don’t know,” he said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi later said on X that federal agents executed a seizure warrant on a tanker long sanctioned for its role in an illicit network moving Iranian oil to support Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Video she released showed heavily armed Coast Guard teams rappelling from helicopters hovering just above the vessel’s deck.
A federal law enforcement official identified the ship as the Skipper, previously known as the Adisa, a vessel flagged in a 2022 Treasury Department notice as being operated through shell companies linked to smuggling facilitator Viktor Artemov.
Two U.S. officials said the Coast Guard boarding party included elite Maritime Security Response Team members trained for high-risk counterterrorism and counternarcotics missions. A senior White House official said no additional tanker seizure warrants have been approved.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto denounced the operation as “a blatant theft” and “an act of international piracy,” arguing that Washington’s true goal was control of Venezuela’s oil wealth. He called the move an attempt to distract from the “political spectacle” surrounding opposition figure María Corina Machado, who appeared publicly Thursday in Oslo after her daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
Oil prices rose more than 1.3% as news of the operation circulated, underscoring market sensitivity to tensions involving key oil-producing states.
The seizure comes as Trump ramps up military activity in the region, including deploying the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the Caribbean. Since September, U.S. forces have launched repeated strikes on what the administration calls drug-smuggling vessels, actions Trump says are justified under an “armed conflict” framework with foreign cartels.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has faced bipartisan scrutiny for a Sept. 2 strike that included a second hit on survivors, a “double tap” critics argue may violate the laws of war. Hegseth has defended the decision, citing the uncertainties of military operations.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—under U.S. indictment for narcoterrorism and facing a $50 million U.S. reward for his capture—accused Washington of fabricating a pretext for war. Speaking to farmers Thursday, he said Venezuela was prepared for confrontation. “It’s not a time for cowards,” he said. “It’s time for combat.”
