Footage released by the US department of homeland security shows US forces seizing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Video: ReutersUS forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation of Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against the South American country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, whose government called the seizure “an act of international piracy”. The grainy, unclassified 45-second video shows US forces landing on the tanker from a helicopter. In an accompanying statement, Bondi said the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the US coast guard, with support from the department of defense, had “executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran”. The objective of this week’s reported tanker seizure was not immediately clear.

Source: The Irish Times December 11, 2025 16:16 UTC