THIS is the stunning moment US troops rappel from helicopters and storm an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela with high-powered rifles.
Well-oiled commandos swept through the ship as they executed Trump’s boldest play yet in his stand-off with dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Footage released on X by Attorney General Pam Bondi shows a military helicopter hovering over the tanker, with another buzzing nearby.
Ropes are tossed from the cabin and geared-up troops immediately clamber down onto the deck.
They disperse in formation – guns aloft – darting up staircases and sweeping through cabins.
Forces from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Coast Guard all came together for the slick sting.
Ms Bondi said the troops were carrying out a seizure warrant for the tanker, which was used to “transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran”.
Announcing the successful operation earlier on Wednesday, Trump said: “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually.”
He fired an ominous warning to Maduro – under the cosh more now than ever before – that “other things are happening”, though he did not elaborate.
When pressed on why he ordered the operation, Trump said only: “It was seized for a very good reason.”
And asked what would happen to the oil onboard, he said: “We keep it I guess.”
It’s still not clear exactly which vessel was targeted, or where it was intercepted.
This marks a major escalation in the US campaign against Venezuela – and is the strongest hint yet that America’s sights are set beyond drug traffickers.
Up to this point, operations had been limited to remote strikes on small boats that America identified as “narco-terrorists”.
This appears to be the first clash involving American personnel in the field, and the first target not directly related to the drugs trade.
In the immediate term, the seizure could stymie Venezuela’s vital oil exports.
Other shippers will likely be much warier of loading cargo from Maduro’s shores – for fear of a similar seizure.
Longer term, it’s possible this proves to be the first move in a naval blockade of Venezuela – but Trump is for now keeping his cards close to his chest.
Most oil from Venezuela ends up in China after passing through middlemen nations and being sold at a cut price.
Just today, oil buyers in Asia demanded deeper discounts on Venezuelan crude oil due to a flood of sanctioned oil from Russia and Iran on offer.
They also cited the risk of loading in the South American country in the face of the US military presence – a concern that has today been realised.
The US has for months been tightening the noose around Maduro.
This has been through a series of bold strikes against Venezuelan drug trafficking boats and the build-up of a vast military force in the Caribbean.
As of December 4, at least 87 people had been killed in 22 strikes on 23 vessels.
At the end of last month, Trump vowed the US would soon launch land operations in Venezuela after saying the drug cartels are on a par with terrorist groups Al Qaeda and Hamas.
However, he has maintained that his only goal is to wipe out the drugs trade flooding narcotics into the US – justifying each escalation with this cause.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15620987/us-seize-oil-tanker-venezuela-coast-trump-maduro/