President Donald Trump announced on December 10, 2025, at around 8:00 p.m. UTC that US forces seized a large oil tanker off Venezuela's coast during the past hour, calling it "the largest one ever seized, actually," in a US Coast Guard-led operation with US Navy support, amid tensions with the Maduro government, according to the Associated Press and multiple X posts citing Trump. Trump stated, "We have just seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a big, big oil tanker," and noted from the @POTUS account that "other things are happening," as relayed by journalists on X including @ElizLanders and @atrupar over the 59-minute reporting window ending at 8:45 p.m. UTC. A US official confirmed to the AP the operation's leadership by the Coast Guard with Navy assistance. This seizure follows a Bloomberg report from the prior hour citing sources familiar with the matter on US interception of a sanctioned tanker off Venezuela, aligning with enforcement of US sanctions. US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III REACH128 flew from Fort Liberty, USA, to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and US Navy C-130T Hercules CONVOY3255 traveled from Norfolk, USA, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, per flight tracking posts by @Flightwatcher1 during the window. Separately, Venezuelan opposition leader MarÃa Corina Machado's daughter stated she will arrive in Norway around midnight UTC via a private plane from Curacao through the USA, according to an X post shared in the reporting period.
