US Seizes Oil Tanker off Venezuela
Watch: Video shows seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker.
On December 10, 2025, President Trump announced the U.S. Coast Guard, working alongside other agencies, had seized a Venezuelan oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro criticized the move, calling the seizure a “blatant theft and act of international piracy,”. The ship, The Skipper, formally called Adisa, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 for smuggling Iranian oil. A U.S. Treasury report in 2022 outlines a vast smuggling network that helped fund Hezbollah, the Iran funded terrorist organization in Lebanon, and the Iranian military.
According to international law if a ship is stateless (Not properly registered with a nation) in international waters (Evidence suggests The Skipper was) it can be boarded and seized by any nation. It’s not clear if that’s what happened here, but it’s a possibility due to the ships smuggling connections. Legally, the U.S. military is not allowed to seize ships merely for violating sanctions, like The Skipper, leaving the legality of this action in question until we get more information.
