Azernews.Az

The US has seized an oil tanker that had recently left Venezuela, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump ordered a "blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers coming in or out of Venezuela, Azernews reports.

The oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela was seized by US forces on Saturday. It is the second time in less than two weeks that US forces have taken such actions, as US President Donald Trump puts increasing pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Days before, Trump announced a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving the country. A first tanker was seized off the coast of the South American country on 10 December by US forces.

In a social media post on X, Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary, confirmed that "the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War" stopped the oil tanker last docked in Venezuela. Noem shared a video under her message of a US helicopter dropping personnel onto a vessel named Centuries.

According to MarineTraffic, a project that uses publicly available data to track ships around the world, a crude oil tanker sailing under a Panamanian flag and operating under that name was recently tracked near the Venezuelan coast. However, it is not known if the vessel was under US sanctions.

US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the boarding of the vessel was "consented," as the tanker stopped voluntarily and allowed US forces to board.