An oil tanker seized by US forces in the Caribbean has been under US Treasury sanctions since 2022 for allegedly being part of a global fleet of vessels engaged in illegally smuggling Iranian oil.

The Trump administration’s seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela is one of the most dramatic twists yet in a military pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Iran has pledged "unconditional" support to Venezuela one day after President Donald Trump said Nicolás Maduro is living his "last days" in power.

The situation is playing out similar to that of Iran’s 12-day war over the summer, where Russia and China did little to help Tehran prevent the American-Israeli bombings.

The Wall Street Journal says the operation was a rare maritime interdiction aimed at disrupting Iran’s military procurement efforts.

A U.S. special operations team boarded a ship in the Indian Ocean last month and seized cargo headed to Iran from China, a U.S. official said, a rare operation at sea aimed at blocking Tehran from rebuilding its military arsenal.

Trump admin weighs next steps in Venezuela as military presence ramps up

The U.S. ‌government ​carried out its seizure ‌of the M/T Skipper off the coast of Venezuela ​on Wednesday just as a judge-signed warrant was set to expire, according to ‍the document which was ​unsealed on Friday.