White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt at a press conference.Image: keystone
Dec 11, 2025, 10:21 p.mDec 11, 2025, 10:21 p.m
According to the White House, the tanker captured by the US off the coast of Venezuela is known to be part of a shadow fleet delivering black market oil to the Revolutionary Guards in Iran. The ship is on a sanctions list and the Justice Department has requested the seizure of the ship, said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
It was unclear in the statement why Venezuela should supply oil to the Revolutionary Guards. Iran produces oil itself and has significant oil reserves of its own.
When asked whether US President Donald Trump’s operations in the Caribbean were about the fight against drugs or about oil, Leavitt said: “The president has taken a new approach that no administration has taken in quite some time, which is to actually focus on what’s going on in our own backyard.” For decades, the United States had viewed Latin America as its backyard.
According to Leavitt, further actions against oil tankers are possible
Leavitt also did not rule out further actions against oil tankers. The United States would not stand idly by as sanctioned ships sail the seas carrying black market oil and use the proceeds to “finance drug terrorism by rogue states and illegitimate regimes around the world.”
The US Coast Guard and other units took control of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday. Venezuela has huge oil reserves, is heavily dependent on export revenue and supplies its oil primarily to US rival China. The authoritarian president of the South American country, Nicolás Maduro, accuses the USA of targeting this oil in escalating the conflict and of wanting to force a change of power in Caracas. (sda/dpa)