US forces say one other Venezuela-linked tanker seized as Trump continues strikes to take management of nation’s oil reserves.
Revealed On 16 Jan 2026
United States forces have seized an oil tanker within the Caribbean that the Trump administration stated had hyperlinks to Venezuela, the sixth tanker vessel detained as Washington strikes to take full management of Venezuelan oil sources.
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem stated the US Coast Guard had boarded the tanker Veronica early on Thursday.
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Noem stated the vessel had beforehand handed by means of Venezuelan waters and was working in defiance of President Donald Trump’s “established quarantine of sanctioned vessels within the Caribbean”.
US Marines and sailors stationed on board the plane provider USS Gerald R Ford took half within the operation alongside a coastguard tactical workforce, which Noem stated performed the boarding.
The US army stated the ship was seized “with out incident”.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by US forces as a part of President Trump’s promise to take indefinite management of the manufacturing, refining and international distribution of Venezuela’s oil merchandise. It was additionally the fourth ship seized because the US kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a army operation in Caracas nearly two weeks in the past.
The newest seizure got here as Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, instructed parliament on Thursday that there can be reforms to laws governing Venezuela’s oil sector. The Hydrocarbons Legislation, amongst different provisions, limits the involvement of international entities in exploiting the nation’s nationwide sources.
With out offering particulars, Rodriguez instructed parliament the reforms would contact on Venezuela’s so-called anti-blockade legislation, which supplies the federal government with instruments to counteract US sanctions in place since 2019.
Rodriguez stated the envisioned authorized reform would end in cash for “new fields, to fields the place there has by no means been funding, and to fields the place there is no such thing as a infrastructure”.
Rodriguez additionally stated funds from oil would go to staff and public providers.
Oil exports are Venezuela’s fundamental income.
Since Maduro’s abduction, Trump has claimed the US now controls Venezuela’s oil sector and has made clear that the takeover of the country’s vast oil reserves was a key objective of his army onslaught towards the nation and its chief.
Addressing oil executives final week, Trump stated: “You’re coping with us instantly and never coping with Venezuela in any respect. We don’t need you to cope with Venezuela.”
Venezuela sits on a few fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was as soon as a serious crude provider to the US.
However Venezuela solely produced about 1 % of the world’s complete crude output in 2024, in response to OPEC, having been hampered by years of underinvestment, US sanctions and embargoes.
