US seizes huge oil tanker off Venezuela as tensions escalate tensions between Trump, Maduro
The United States has seized a large oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast as President Donald Trump dramatically escalates tensions with the South American nation. WATCH THE VIDEO.
The United States has seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, dramatically escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas.
The move comes amid a huge US naval build-up in the Caribbean, which Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro says is aimed at regime change, and strikes on alleged drug boats.
A video published by US Attorney General Pam Bondi showed troops rappelling from a helicopter onto the tanker’s deck, then entering the ship’s bridge with rifles raised.
“We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large – the largest one ever seized, actually,” Mr Trump told reporters at the start of a roundtable with business leaders at the White House.
“And other things are happening, so you’ll be seeing that later.”
Bondi said the tanker was part of an “illicit oil shipping network” used to carry sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
US media reported that the tanker was heading for Cuba, another American rival, and was detained by the US Coast Guard.
President Trump just said the tanker “was seized for a very good reason.”
Mr Trump’s announcement came a day before Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was set to address the world from Oslo after coming out of hiding.
Machado, who won the Nobel for challenging Maduro’s grip on power in oil-rich Venezuela, has not been seen out in the open for months after threats to her life.
Venezuela had warned she could be arrested as a fugitive if attempting to re-enter the country after travelling for the Nobel, but Trump warned Caracas against any such step.
“I don’t like if she would be arrested, I wouldn’t be happy with it,” Trump told reporters.
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TRUMP ADMIN BUYS BOEINGS TO SPEED UP DEPORTATIONS
The US Department of Homeland Security is buying its own fleet of Boeing jets for use in President Donald Trump’s contentious deportation efforts, a spokeswoman confirmed.
“These planes will allow ICE to operate more effectively, including by using more efficient flight patterns,” Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“This new initiative will save the US taxpayer $279 MILLION,” she said, responding to a Washington Post article about the deal.
Boeing declined to comment when contacted by AFP, and the Post reported that the nearly $US140 million ($A210m) contract for six 737 jets was with a firm called Daedalus Aviation that was established in early 2024, rather than a direct purchase from the aviation giant that manufactured them.
President Trump has made preventing unlawful immigration and expelling undocumented migrants top priorities during his second term, and has taken a number of actions aimed at speeding up deportations and reducing border crossings.
There have been more than 1700 deportation flights to dozens of countries since Mr Trump returned to office in January, according to the group Human Rights First.
Mr Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown – which has involved numerous raids by masked law enforcement personnel – has sparked significant criticism, leading to multiple legal challenges as well as protests in some Democratic-led cities.
The administration says more than two million undocumented immigrants have left the country since January: 1.6 million voluntarily, while the rest were deported.
UN CHIEF REBUKES TRUMP’S ‘DECAYING’ EUROPE CLAIMS
The United Nations rights chief responded to stinging criticism of Europe from Donald Trump’s administration, insisting the continent has greatly benefited from promoting and protecting human rights.
Mr Trump blasted Europe as “decaying” and “weak” on immigration, after his administration’s national security strategy warned of so-called “civilisational erasure”, saying the continent’s migration policies were “creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition”.
Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, insisted that Europe had achieved huge successes in the rights field.
Regarding the European component of the US strategy, Europe “has benefited precisely from the promotion and protection of human rights”, Turk told a press conference in Geneva.
Through its court and convention, Europe established a human rights system that is “one of the strongest in the world”.
“When it comes to freedom of expression, it’s absolutely clear there are limits to it when it comes to hate speech, harmful disinformation, incitement to violence,” he said.
“I hope that all those who look at that strategy and who analyse it are doing it very much in recognition of the incredible path” of Europe to build a continent founded in “peace, human rights and dignity”.
He called it an “incredible achievement for humanity”.
Relations between Europe and the United States have become strained on several issues since Mr Trump’s return to power in January, from the US rapprochement with Russia to the open support the United States has shown for far-right parties in Europe.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that parts of the US national security strategy were “unacceptable to us from a European perspective”.
JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP-ORDERED TROOPS IN LA
A federal judge has ordered President Trump to end his deployment of the California National Guard in Los Angeles, ruling that he must yield control of the troops to the Democrat state governor Gavin Newsom.
US District judge Charles Breyer ruled that Mr Trump had deployed them illegally and kept them there after immigration protests were quelled months ago.
At this time, 100 troops are still in Los Angeles.
TRUMP ATTACKS KEY ALLY
President Trump deepened his rift with Europe calling the continent “weak” and “decaying” over immigration.
President Trump doubled down on his extraordinary recent criticisms of a region that Washington has long counted as a key ally, recycling far-right tropes about civilisational decline in Europe.
“Most European nations, they’re, they’re decaying. They’re decaying,” President Trump told Politico.
The 79-year-old billionaire echoed far-right talking points as he said that Europe’s policies were a “disaster.”
“They’re coming in from all parts of the world,” Mr Trump said.
“But they want to be politically correct, and they don’t want to send them back to where they came from.”
President Trump’s broadside comes days after his administration’s new national security strategy sparked alarm by calling for the cultivation of “resistance” in the EU against liberal migration policies.
Asked if European countries would not remain US allies if they failed to embrace his administration’s policies on the issue, Mr Trump replied that “it depends.”
“I think they’re weak, but they also want to be so politically correct,” Mr Trump said.
He listed countries including Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Sweden that he said were being “destroyed” by migration, and launched a new attack on the “horrible, vicious, disgusting” Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor.
President Trump also brushed off the fact that the Kremlin had hailed the new US national security strategy as being in line with its own views.
“I think he (Putin) would like to see a weak Europe, and to be honest with you, he’s getting that. That has nothing to do with me,” he said.
TRUMP’S TARIFF WARNING
President Trump warned that a potential Supreme Court ruling against his power to apply tariffs would threaten national security.
Since November 5, the court has been examining the legality of President Trump’s sweeping tariff policy, although no date has been set for a ruling.
Several businesses and Democratic-led states have also filed complaints with the US Court of International Trade, arguing that the tariffs are unconstitutional as the power to impose them rests with Congress.
“The biggest threat in history to United States National Security would be a negative decision on Tariffs by the US Supreme Court,” Mr Trump said on social media.
The United States would be “financially defenceless” if the Supreme Court ruled against him, Mr Trump said.
“We would not be allowed to do what others already do!” he added in the post, along with a photo of French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to China last week.
On the weekend, Mr Macron threatened China with tariffs “in the coming months” if Beijing fails to take steps to reduce its massive trade surplus with the European Union.
Mr Trump said in his post that “because of Tariffs, easily and quickly applied, our National Security has been greatly enhanced, and we have become the financially strongest Country, by far, anywhere in the World. Only dark and sinister forces would want to see that end!!!”
‘HIS DAYS ARE NUMBERED’: TRUMP’S THREAT TO VENEZUELAN LEADER
President Trump warned that Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s “days are numbered” and refused to rule out sending US ground troops to depose the left-wing leader.
The president told Politico that Maduro could not be allowed to stay in power as the administration cracks down on South American drug trafficking, but declined to tip his hand about what the US could or would do to cause regime change.
When the publication asked how far Mr Trump was willing to go to oust Maduro, the president merely responded, “I don’t want to say that.”
“But you want to see him out?” the reporter asked.
“His days are numbered,” Mr Trump affirmed.
President Trump blamed the Caracas regime for sending “drug dealers” into the US, including members of the notorious gang Tren de Aragua.
“I want the people of Venezuela to be treated well,” he said.
“I want the people of Venezuela, many of whom live in the United States, to be respected. I mean, they were tremendous to me. They voted for me 94 per cent or something … I got to know the people well. They’re incredible people. And they were treated horribly by Maduro.”
Since September 2, the US military has carried out more than 20 strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 80 people.
When asked if he could rule out a ground invasion of Venezuela to overthrow Maduro, Mr Trump answered: “I don’t want to rule in or out.”
“I don’t talk about it,” he added, “I don’t want to talk to you about military strategy.”
President Trump did, however, tell Politico that air strikes targeting Venezuelan territory would happen “very soon.”
The US has already begun building up an amphibious force in the area around Venezuela, with Maduro responding by mobilising his army and preparing for a guerrilla-style counter-attack if land incursions or air strikes occur.
During the interview, Mr Trump also suggested that he was open to launching the same type of strikes against targets inside Mexico and Colombia, both of which traffic more fentanyl into the US than cartels from Caracas.
“Sure I would,” Mr Trump replied when the reporter asked if he would consider expanding his war on drugs to the other Latin American nations.
RFK ‘NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT’; SHOWS OFF IN PULL UP BATTLE
Robert F Kennedy Jr will not be running for president in 2028 his wife has confirmed as the Health and Human Services Secretary challenged a top Trump aide to a pull up battle in an airport.
“Gosh, he’s not going to run for president,” Cheryl Hines told NewsNation about RFK adding she “didn’t think he was going to go into politics, and the next thing you know, he’s telling me he wants to run.”
Meanwhile at a Washington DC airport, RFK was joined by US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy to announce A$1.5 billion in grants to improve airports.
The grants can be for any number of modifications including things like mini gyms or breastfeeding privacy pods.
Mr Duffy and RFK made use of the pull up bar supplied as a photo shoot prop for an impromptu pull up contest.
The 71-year-old RFK easily beat his 54-year-old former reality TV show opponent 20-10 in a spectacle which both delighted and confused onlookers.
“Health and Human Services! This is what they do. They just do pull ups all day,” Mr Duffy quipped upon losing the pull up battle according to the Independent.
TRUMP THREATENS MEXICO WITH FRESH TARIFFS OVER WATER FEUD
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she was confident of reaching an agreement with Mr Trump in a water-sharing dispute, after he threatened new sanctions.
“I am convinced that, as has happened other times, we are going to reach an agreement that benefits the United States and Mexico,” Ms Sheinbaum told a news conference a day after Mr Trump’s threat.
President Trump accused Mexico of violating a 1944 treaty under which the United States shares water from the Colorado River in exchange for flows from the Rio Grande, which forms part of the border between the two countries.
Mr Trump said Mexico owed 800,000 acre-feet of water to the United States and demanded it release a quarter of this amount by December 31 or be hit with a new five per cent tariff.
President Sheinbaum said Mexican officials would meet with US counterparts to discuss the dispute.
Mexico has acknowledged it is behind in its water deliveries to the US over the past five years, citing drought conditions in 2022 and 2023.
Ms Sheinbaum said it would be physically impossible to deliver the amount of water Mr Trump wants so quickly because the pumping equipment could not handle it.
“We have the best will to deliver the amount of water that is owed from previous years,” she said.
The move to boost water supplies for Texas farmers came as the 79-year-old president announced a US$12 billion aid package for the US agriculture industry, rocked by fallout from his trade and tariff policies.
Mexican goods currently face a 25 per cent tariff unless they fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a free trade deal struck during Trump’s first term and which Washington is aiming to renegotiate in 2026.
– with AFP & New York Post
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Originally published as US seizes huge oil tanker off Venezuela as tensions escalate tensions between Trump, Maduro
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