Reuters: US preparing to seize more tankers off Venezuela's coast after first ship taken

The US is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil following the seizure of a tanker this week, as it increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, six sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, Report informs via Reuters.

The seizure was the first interdiction of an oil cargo or tanker from Venezuela, which has been under US sanctions since 2019. It came as the US executes a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean and as US President Donald Trump pushes for Maduro's ouster.

The latest US action has put shipowners, operators and maritime agencies involved in transporting Venezuelan crude on alert, with many reconsidering whether to sail from Venezuelan waters in the coming days as planned, shipping sources said.

Further direct interventions by the US are expected in the coming weeks, targeting ships carrying Venezuelan oil that may also have transported oil from other countries targeted by US sanctions, such as Iran, according to the sources familiar with the matter who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. Venezuela's government this week said the US seizure constituted a "theft."

Asked whether the Trump administration planned further ship seizures, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters she would not speak about future actions but said the US would continue executing the president's sanctions policies.

"We're not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world," she said.

The US has assembled a target list of several more sanctioned tankers for possible seizure, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.

The US Justice Department and Homeland Security had been planning the seizures for months, according to two of the people.