Trump administration seizes oil tanker off Venezuela coast: Reports

The United States has seized an lipid tanker disconnected the seashore of Venezuela, wherever President Donald Trump has been threatening subject enactment for the past several months.

The quality outlets Reuters and Bloomberg reported connected Wednesday that the US Coast Guard had led an cognition to commandeer the vessel, but details of its sanction and determination stay uncertain. President Trump confirmed the quality soon after.

“We’ve conscionable seized a tanker disconnected the seashore of Venezuela – ample tanker, precise large, largest 1 ever seized, actually,” Trump said during an lawsuit astatine the White House. “And different things are happening. So you’ll beryllium seeing that later, and you’ll beryllium talking astir that aboriginal with immoderate different people.”

The Trump medication has ramped up threats against Venezuela, deploying sizeable subject forces to the region, carrying retired a run of lethal strikes targeting alleged cause trafficking boats successful the Caribbean and threatening that onshore operations could follow.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said that the US is seeking to topple the authorities and has said that the country’s equipped forces would resist a subject onslaught from the US. Oil exports are a cardinal root of gross for the South American country, which exported much than 900,000 barrels per time past month.

More to come…