More information has emerged about the Venezuelan oil tanker that the United States seized on Wednesday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday announced that the FBI, Homeland Security Department, and U.S. Coast Guard “executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”
Bondi further noted that the tanker “has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”
Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) December 10, 2025
A New York Times report revealed that the tanker could have been trying to conceal its location by transmitting false data — and that it has used this maneuver on several occasions.
The oil tanker seized by the United States off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday may have been trying to conceal its whereabouts by broadcasting falsified location data, according to a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery and photographs.
U.S. officials did not publicly name the vessel, but one official told The Times that it was a ship called the Skipper. Although the vessel’s location transponder indicated that it was anchored in the Atlantic Ocean near Guyana and Suriname, The Times found that from late October to at least Dec. 4, the ship was actually hundreds of miles away off Venezuela.
A satellite image captured on Nov. 18 shows the tanker docked at the country’s José oil terminal while its transponder showed that it was elsewhere.
The ship’s location was further corroborated by a photograph taken from land as it loaded oil. The image was provided by TankerTrackers.com, a company that monitors global oil shipping.
America seized a Venezuelan oil tanker today and the FBI director posted the quote below.
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) December 11, 2025
Assuming it's true, that's the very "standing army" our founders warned against. A domestic law enforcement entity should not have these
capabilities and/or capacity to conduct this… pic.twitter.com/FJtRyGrgtX
Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, told The Times that the tanker has transported nearly 13 million barrels of Iranian and Venezuelan oil since joining the global dark fleet of tankers in 2021.” He explained that it also delivered oil to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as it fought the country’s civil war.
President Donald Trump told reporters that the tanker “was seized for a very good reason.”
The tanker carried about 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude. Some of its cargo was bound for Cuba. The White House noted that the seizure enforces sanctions on Venezuela, Iran, and other entities tied to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, both of which have been designated as terrorist organizations.
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