{"id":22236,"date":"2025-12-22T19:02:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T19:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=22236"},"modified":"2025-12-22T19:02:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T19:02:21","slug":"venezuela-accuses-us-of-international-piracy-after-oil-tanker-seizure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=22236","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela Accuses US Of \u2018International Piracy\u2019 After Oil Tanker Seizure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    Venezuela Accuses US Of \u2018International Piracy\u2019 After Oil Tanker Seizure<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    <!-- no image --><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2-300x157.jpg?resize=300%2C157&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"Venezuela Accuses US Of \u2018International Piracy\u2019 After Oil Tanker Seizure\" style=\"margin-bottom: 15px;margin-right:10px;width:150px; height:150px;float:left;\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1881181\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1881181\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1881181\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2.jpg?resize=1200%2C628\" alt=\"seizure\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/seizure-2-150x79.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1881181\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screengrab from X video posted by Homeland Security<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Venezuela has accused the United States of committing \u201cinternational piracy\u201d after another oil tanker carrying Venezuelan crude was seized at sea.<\/p>\n<p>According to Russia Today, the Venezuelan government said the vessel was intercepted while transporting oil through international waters.<\/p>\n<p>Caracas described the seizure as an unlawful act aimed at undermining the country\u2019s energy sector and destabilising its political leadership.<\/p>\n<p>In an official statement, Venezuela\u2019s Foreign Ministry condemned the operation, referring to it as the theft and hijacking of a privately owned tanker.<\/p>\n<p>The ministry further alleged that US military personnel were responsible for the forced disappearance of the ship\u2019s crew following the interception.<\/p>\n<p>Venezuelan authorities claimed the United States was pursuing what they described as a colonial-style strategy designed to strip Venezuela of its sovereignty and seize control of its natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>The government in Caracas said it would seek accountability through international mechanisms, including the United Nations Security Council. It warned that those responsible for the tanker seizure would eventually be held accountable by justice and history.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p>The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nSZ4mi6axc\">pic.twitter.com\/nSZ4mi6axc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sec_Noem\/status\/2002481990755627050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 20, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that the tanker was seized during a predawn operation on Saturday, stating that the move was linked to enforcement measures against Venezuelan oil exports.<\/p>\n<p>The seizure followed a significant escalation announced by US President Donald Trump earlier in the week. As reported by Russia Today, Trump ordered a \u201ctotal and complete\u201d blockade of all tankers considered to be sanctioned while entering or leaving Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has publicly linked the policy to economic grievances, asserting that Venezuela had taken US energy assets. He warned that failure to return those assets would result in a show of force, including the deployment of what he described as the largest naval armada ever assembled in the history of South America.<\/p>\n<p>President Nicolas Maduro strongly criticised Washington\u2019s actions. He accused the US of attempting to install a compliant government that would abandon Venezuela\u2019s constitution and surrender control of its resources.<\/p>\n<p>Maduro reportedly described the blockade and vessel seizures as corsair-style tactics and an example of what he termed barbaric diplomacy.<\/p>\n<p><em>Reference: ANI News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    MI News Network<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/shipping-news\/venezuela-accuses-us-of-international-piracy-after-oil-tanker-seizure\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=venezuela-accuses-us-of-international-piracy-after-oil-tanker-seizure\">Go to marine insight<\/a><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Venezuela Accuses US Of \u2018International Piracy\u2019 After Oil Tanker Seizure Screengrab from X video posted by Homeland Security Venezuela has accused the United States of committing \u201cinternational piracy\u201d after another oil tanker carrying Venezuelan crude was seized at sea. According to Russia Today, the Venezuelan government said the vessel was intercepted while transporting oil through [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,196],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-22236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marine-insight","category-shipping-news","tag-marine-insight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}