Things are getting interesting in the Caribbean Sea. On Wednesday, President Trump announced that the United States had seized an oil tanker, presumably outbound from Venezuela, just off the coast of that country. The president hinted at other acts in the offing.
🚨 BREAKING: The United States just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. @POTUS says "other things are happening so you will be seeing that later."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 10, 2025
💥 pic.twitter.com/SmkPjDYMGP
The president said:
As you probably know, we just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela. A large tanker, very large. largest one ever seized, actually. And, uh, other things are happening, so you'll be seeing that later, and you'll be talking about that later with some other people.
Seizing a commercial ship could have profound implications. Details are still scarce, but this could be particularly galling to El Presidente Maduro if this tanker carries the Venezuelan flag. The Trump administration may well justify the seizure as being an enforcement action against a nation under sanction by the United States, denoting the oil tanker as carrying contraband.
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Venezuela will doubtless rush to call this piracy. Much of the American legacy media may rush to agree. And it's a fair bet that none of that will deter President Trump and the Department of War from doing what they are doing to put an ever-tightening spiral coil of pressure on Nicolás Maduro.
A Fox News story added this:
The move is likely to further strain relations with Nicolás Maduro’s government, which already is subject to extensive U.S. sanctions targeting Venezuela’s oil sector. It comes after U.S. military strikes have targeted alleged narcotraffickers near Venezuela at least 22 times since September, killing 87 people.
The Trump administration is considering launching land strikes on Venezuelan territory in an effort to further ramp up pressure on Maduro, who the U.S. views as the illegitimate leader of Venezuela and the leader of the Cartel de Los Soles drug trafficking cartel.
Trump recently said Maduro's "days are numbered" and refused to rule out a ground operation in the South American country.
If you're thinking of traveling to the Caribbean Sea, well, hang on to your cookies, because things there are liable to get downright lively in the near future.
This is a developing story. We will be bringing you more details as events unfold.
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