The US has intercepted and seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, Donald Trump has said.
The US president confirmed the operation at a meeting with business leaders at the White House on Wednesday.
“We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually,” he said at the start of the meeting.
Without giving additional information on the operation, Mr Trump added that “other things are happening”.
It marks the latest escalation from the Trump administration, which has in recent months ramped up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The US accuses Mr Maduro of presiding over a narcotrafficking operation in Venezuela, which he denies.
On 2 September, the White House posted on X that it had conducted a strike against so-called “narcoterrorists” shipping fentanyl to the US, without providing direct evidence of the alleged crime.
Sky’s Data & Forensics unit has verified that in the past four months since strikes began, 23 boats have been targeted in 22 strikes, killing 87 people.
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Officials also told the Reuters news agency that the operation was led by the US Coast Guard. They did not name the tanker, what flag the vessel sailed under, or exactly where the incident took place.
UK maritime risk management group Vanguard said that the tanker Skipper – which the US sanctioned for alleged involvement in Iranian oil trading under the name Adisa – was believed to have been seized.
It also comes after Mr Trump suggested that the US could strike Venezuela on land.
Speaking to Politico on Tuesday, he declined to comment on whether US troops would enter the country, but said that Mr Maduro’s “days are numbered”.
According to US news outlet Bloomberg, the Maduro government describes US actions as a grab for Venezuela’s oil reserves – among the biggest in the world.
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This story originally appeared on Skynews
