What Trump’s Latest Dramatic Venezuela Move Really Means

This image from video posted on Attorney General Pam Bondi's X account, and partially redacted by the source, shows an oil tanker being seized by US forces off the coast of Venezuela, on December 10, 2025. (PC: US Attorney General's Office/X via AP)

The Trump administration’s seizure of an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast marks one of the most dramatic escalations yet in Washington’s pressure campaign against President Nicolás Maduro. US Coast Guard personnel, backed by the Navy and federal law-enforcement agencies, boarded and seized the vessel Skipper in international waters. The tanker was allegedly transporting Venezuelan […]